Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to scientists who pioneered work in optogenetics

Thomas Perlmann, professor at Sweden's Karolinska Institute and a member of the Nobel committee for physiology and medicine, speaks to reporters in Stockholm on Monday as the three winners are projected on a screen behind him. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/Reuters)Social SharingScientists Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg ‌Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or ​Medicine for "discoveries concerning light-gated ​ion channels and optogenetics," the award-giving body ​said Monday in Stockholm.

Optogenetics "has fundamentally altered our understanding of the brain," the committee said on social media.

"Using optogenetics, researchers have been able to reveal neural circuits governing specific memories, feelings and behaviours relevant for neurological and psychiatric disorders," the committee said. "In clinical medicine, researchers are using the method in attempts to restore sight in people with visual impairment."

Deisseroth, a 54-year-old American, Hegemann, a 71-year-old German, and Georg Nagel, a 73-year-old German, were all surprised to learn they had won, Thomas Perlmann, professor at Sweden's Karolinska Institute and a member of the Nobel committee for physiology and medicine said.

The Nobel Prizes come with a prize amount of 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.7 million Cdn).

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Prizes for chemistry and physics will be awarded Tuesday and Wednesday, literature on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize will be announced Oct. 12.

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, who in his will dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind."

Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.

Nobel ‌died in 1896, with the first prizes bearing his name following five years later.

The Nobel prizes are presented to the laureates on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.