🔶 Three researchers from Germany and the United States win the Nobel Prize in Medicine

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to two German researchers, Peter Hegmann and Georg Nagel, and to Karl Deisseroth, an American scientist. The Nobel Committee announced that the three researchers received the prize for their discoveries about light-sensitive ion channels and the development of the “optogenetics” method.

Optogenetics is a method that allows researchers to control the activity of nerve cells (neurons) with light. In recent years, this technology has become one of the most important tools in neuroscience research and has helped scientists study the role of different neural circuits in behavior, emotions, and brain diseases.

Peter Hegmann, a researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel from the University of Würzburg, identified the protein “channelrhodopsin.” These proteins respond to light and can control the passage of ions across the cell membrane.

Later, Karl Deisseroth, a researcher at Stanford University, used the same mechanism to control neurons. He and his colleagues introduced the gene that produces this protein into neurons and showed that their activity can be activated or inhibited by shining light on them.