1. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that allows scientists to control nerve cells with light and investigate how the brain works.

The award was announced in Stockholm on 5 October. The Nobel Assembly recognised the American researcher and his two German colleagues “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”, according to the Guardian.

Optogenetics combines genetic techniques with light-sensitive proteins to activate or silence selected cells. Stanford University describes it as a research tool that allows scientists to control cell activity with precision and investigate brain circuits involved in behaviour, thinking and emotion.

The discoveries grew from research into microorganisms. The Lasker Foundation’s account of the work describes how Hegemann, collaborating with Nagel and Ernst Bamberg, investigated a protein from single-celled green algae that opened an ion channel when illuminated.

Their findings were published in 2002. In 2003, the researchers reported a second channel that admitted positively charged ions, including sodium and calcium, and could function in mammalian cells.

Deisseroth and Stanford colleagues Edward Boyden and Feng Zhang, working with Nagel and Bamberg, then introduced a gene for one of these proteins into neurons grown in laboratory dishes. Light triggered electrical activity in the cells, the foundation said. Those results were published in 2005.

The technique subsequently developed beyond activating neurons. Stanford University reported in April 2014 that Deisseroth’s team had redesigned light-sensitive proteins to inhibit nerve-cell activity more efficiently.

Earlier tools had been better at switching cells on than turning them off. The redesigned channel allowed negatively charged chloride ions to flow through the cell membrane, suppressing activity, according to Stanford.

The university also described applications beyond neuroscience, including research on heart cells and stem cells. These were investigations into biological function using a method that controls electrical signalling.

The work had already earned major recognition: Deisseroth and Hegemann shared the 2021 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Dieter Oesterhelt, whose research on microbial proteins helped establish the field.

The laureates share 12 million Swedish kronor, the Guardian reported.