Three scientists win 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine for brain research

Summary

• American scientist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that have helped researchers better understand how the brain works.
• The three scientists were honoured for their work on light-sensitive proteins and optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers to control the activity of individual nerve cells using light.
• Hegemann and Nagel later demonstrated that the protein could be introduced into other cells, allowing their electrical activity to be controlled with light.

AI Generated Summary

American scientist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that have helped researchers better understand how the brain works.

The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet announced the award on Monday. The three scientists were honoured for their work on light-sensitive proteins and optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers to control the activity of individual nerve cells using light.

The technology has become an important tool in neuroscience. It allows scientists to switch specific brain cells on or off while studying a living brain. This has helped researchers examine how nerve cells communicate and how different parts of the brain function.