German, US scientists win Nobel medicine prize for work on optogenetics

American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discoveries on light and optogenetics that helped explain how the brain works. The Nobel Assembly said the work concerns light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. The prize is worth 12 million Swedish crowns, and the laureates were described as surprised and delighted.

Optogenetics can switch on or off the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain.

In clinical trials, researchers are restoring vision in people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa by inserting a light-sensitive protein in the retina.

Researchers also hope optogenetics could improve cochlea implants by allowing more precise stimulation of the auditory nerve than current electrical devices.

Published Oct 5, 2026 7:41 pm KST

Thomas Perlmann, right, a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, speaks during a press conference to announce the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureates in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday. EPA-Yonhap

STOCKHOLM — American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their discoveries on light and optogenetics that have helped understand how the brain works.

The Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute medical university said Deisseroth, 54, Hegemann, 71, and Nagel, 73, were selected for their "discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics."

Optogenetics "makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain," said Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.

"This method is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries," Perlmann said.

In clinical trials, researchers are restoring vision to people blinded by a condition called retinitis pigmentosa by inserting a light-sensitive protein in the retina.

Researchers also hope optogenetics could improve cochlea implants, allowing more precise stimulation of the auditory nerve than current electrical devices.

The physiology or medicine prize traditionally opens the annual Nobel announcements, with awards in physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics to follow over the coming days.

Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel will share a prize sum amounting to 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

Recipients surprised and delighted

In the early 1990s, Hegemann investigated how the alga Chlamydomonas reacts to light in half a millisecond. He hypothesized that a single protein captured light and acted as an ion channel. Nagel tested this by injecting Chlamydomonas genes into frog eggs, discovering channelrhodopsin-2 — an ion channel that opens when exposed to light.

In 2003, they published that this protein could be introduced into human and hamster cells to generate electrical impulses using light. In 2005, Deisseroth at Stanford demonstrated the technique in rat nerve cells and the method was named optogenetics a year later.

Perlmann said he had talked to all three laureates this morning, and that they were surprised and delighted.

"All three said the same thing, that they thought it was absolutely wonderful to receive the prize with the other two and they call them my friends. That it's such an honor to receive them together. So that's something they conveyed," Perlmann said.

Nobel Prizes awarded since 1901

The five original Nobel Prizes were created under the terms of Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel's will and have been awarded since 1901, with only limited interruptions, chiefly during World War One and World War Two.

A sixth award, the economics prize, was established in 1968 by Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank.

The medicine prize has honored some of the most influential scientific discoveries of the past century, including Alexander Fleming's work on penicillin, recognized in 1945, and Karl Landsteiner, who won in 1930 for his discovery of human blood groups.

Last year, American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell and Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi won the prize for work shedding light on how the immune system spares healthy cells, creating openings for possible new treatments of diseases such as cancer.

Nobel laureates are chosen by expert committees appointed by the prize-awarding institutions. The awards are presented in Stockholm, with the exception of the Peace Prize, which is handed out in Oslo, a tradition often linked to the union that bound Sweden and Norway during Nobel's lifetime.

More than 125 years after Nobel signed his will, the prizes retain many of their longstanding traditions.

The celebrations culminate on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death, when laureates receive their awards in ceremonies attended by Sweden's and Norway's royal families and are feted at gala banquets held in their honor.

美国科学家卡尔·戴瑟罗特和德国科学家彼得·黑格曼、格奥尔格·纳格尔因其在光和光遗传学领域的发现，荣获2026年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。这些发现有助于解释大脑的运作机制。诺贝尔奖委员会表示，他们的研究涉及光控离子通道和光遗传学。奖金为1200万瑞典克朗，获奖者们表示既惊讶又欣喜。

光遗传学可以开启或关闭活体大脑中单个神经细胞的活动。

在临床试验中，研究人员通过在视网膜中植入感光蛋白来恢复因视网膜色素变性而失明的人的视力。

研究人员还希望光遗传学能够改进人工耳蜗，使其能够比目前的电子设备更精确地刺激听觉神经。

发布于2026年10月5日晚上7:41（韩国标准时间）

周一，在瑞典斯德哥尔摩举行的新闻发布会上，卡罗林斯卡学院诺贝尔奖委员会成员托马斯·珀尔曼（右）发表讲话，宣布2026年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖得主。图片来源：EPA-Yonhap

斯德哥尔摩——美国人卡尔·戴瑟罗斯和德国人彼得·黑格曼、格奥尔格·纳格尔因其在光和光遗传学方面的发现，于周一荣获2026年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖，这些发现有助于了解大脑的工作原理。

瑞典卡罗林斯卡医学院诺贝尔奖评选委员会表示，54 岁的戴瑟罗特、71 岁的黑格曼和 73 岁的纳格尔因其“在光控离子通道和光遗传学方面的发现”而获此殊荣。

卡罗林斯卡学院诺贝尔大会秘书长托马斯·珀尔曼表示，光遗传学“可以打开或关闭活体大脑中单个神经细胞的活动”。

“目前世界各地的实验室都在使用这种方法来揭开大脑的奥秘，”珀尔曼说。

在临床试验中，研究人员通过在视网膜中植入感光蛋白，使患有视网膜色素变性而失明的人恢复视力。

研究人员还希望光遗传学能够改进人工耳蜗，使其能够比目前的电子设备更精确地刺激听觉神经。

诺贝尔生理学或医学奖历来是年度诺贝尔奖颁奖典礼的开端，物理学奖、化学奖、文学奖、和平奖和经济学奖将在接下来的几天内陆续颁发。

戴瑟罗斯、黑格曼和纳格尔将分享 1200 万瑞典克朗（120 万美元）的奖金。

收礼人感到惊喜和高兴

20世纪90年代初，黑格曼研究了衣藻在半毫秒内对光的反应。他假设一种单一蛋白质捕获光并作为离子通道发挥作用。纳格尔通过将衣藻基因注射到蛙卵中验证了这一假设，发现了通道视紫红质-2—​​—一种在光照下会打开的离子通道。

2003年，他们发表论文称，这种蛋白质可以导入人类和仓鼠细胞，利用光产生电脉冲。2005年，斯坦福大学的戴瑟罗斯在大鼠神经细胞中验证了这项技术，一年后，该方法被命名为光遗传学。

珀尔曼说，他今天上午与三位获奖者都谈过了，他们感到既惊讶又高兴。

“他们三个都表达了同样的看法，认为能和另外两位一起领奖真是太棒了，他们称这两位是我的朋友。能一起领奖是莫大的荣幸。这就是他们传达的信息，”珀尔曼说道。

自1901年以来颁发的诺贝尔奖

最初的五项诺贝尔奖是根据瑞典发明家和实业家阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔的遗嘱设立的，自 1901 年以来一直颁发，期间只有有限的中断，主要是在第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战期间。

第六个奖项是经济学奖，由瑞典中央银行（瑞典国家银行）于 1968 年设立。

该医学奖表彰了上个世纪一些最具影响力的科学发现，包括亚历山大·弗莱明在青霉素方面的研究（1945 年获奖）和卡尔·兰德施泰纳在人类血型发现方面的研究（1930 年获奖）。

去年，美国科学家玛丽·布伦科和弗雷德·拉姆斯德尔以及日本科学家坂口志门因揭示免疫系统如何保护健康细胞而获得该奖项，为癌症等疾病的新疗法开辟了道路。

诺贝尔奖得主由颁奖机构任命的专家委员会选出。除和平奖在奥斯陆颁发外，其他奖项均在斯德哥尔摩颁发。和平奖的颁发地点在奥斯陆，这一传统通常与诺贝尔生前瑞典和挪威的紧密联盟有关。

诺贝尔签署遗嘱 125 多年后，该奖项仍然保留了许多悠久的传统。

庆祝活动在 12 月 10 日达到高潮，这一天是诺贝尔逝世周年纪念日。届时，获奖者将在瑞典和挪威王室成员出席的仪式上领取奖项，并在为他们举行的盛大宴会上接受款待。