Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 Awarded to Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel for Optogenetics

5 October 2026National

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on 5 October by the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Wuerzburg, “for their discovery of a molecular switch for nerve cells”. Their work built optogenetics, which inserts light-sensitive algal proteins into neurons so individual cells can be switched on or off by light in a living brain, reshaping research on learning, fear, addiction and movement. The three share 12 million Swedish kronor; a near-term medical use is sharper stimulation in cochlear implants.

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Alfred Nobel died in 1896 and the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901 | The medicine prize is decided by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, while the peace prize alone is awarded in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee | The Economics prize, instituted by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968, is not one of Nobel's original five

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