Nobel Medicine Prize Honors Optogenetics and Light-Gated Channels

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries on light-gated ion channels — proteins that open when hit by light — and optogenetics, the technique using them to control cells. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute announced it on 5 October 2026. They will share 12 million Swedish kronor.