Three scientists win Nobel Prize for controlling brain cells with light

On October 5, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden announced the winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The prize goes to three scientists from the United States and Germany. They built a new kind of science called optogenetics^*1.

The winners are Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. Professor Deisseroth is 54 years old and works at Stanford University in the United States. Professor Hegemann is 71 and works at Frankfurt University in Germany. Professor Nagel is 73 and works at the University of Würzburg in Germany.

Professor Hegemann and Professor Nagel studied very small algae^*2 called Chlamydomonas^*3. Each one has only one cell^*4. Inside these algae, the two scientists found a special protein^*5.

In 2007, Professor Deisseroth used blue light to control nerve cells^*6 in the brain of a living mouse.

Today, doctors are testing this science on patients. Some people have lost their sight because of an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa^*7. The tests are trying to help these people see again.

Scientists also hope that optogenetics will help them understand other diseases better. These are depression^*8, Alzheimer's disease^*9, schizophrenia^*10 and Parkinson's disease^*11.

The prize money is 12 million Swedish kronor^*12, which is about 190 million yen^*13. The three winners will share it equally. The prize ceremony^*14 will be held on December 10.

1. *1 optogenetics: a way to turn cells in the body on and off by using light
2. *2 algae: very simple living things, like plants, that usually live in water
3. *3 Chlamydomonas: a kind of very small green living thing that lives in water
4. *4 cell: the smallest living part of a plant, an animal or a person
5. *5 protein: a very small part inside living things that does a job in the body
6. *6 nerve cells: very small parts of the brain and body that send messages
7. *7 retinitis pigmentosa: an eye disease that slowly takes away a person's sight
8. *8 depression: an illness that makes a person feel very sad for a long time
9. *9 Alzheimer's disease: a brain disease that makes people, often old people, forget things
10. *10 schizophrenia: an illness of the mind that changes how a person thinks and sees the world
11. *11 Parkinson's disease: a brain disease that makes the body shake and move slowly
12. *12 kronor: the money used in Sweden
13. *13 yen: the money used in Japan
14. *14 ceremony: a special event where something important is done, like giving a prize