Two German scientists share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for optogenetics

5 October 2026

Two scientists working in Germany, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University in Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg, won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
They share the prize with Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the United States.
The award recognises their work on light-gated ion channels and on the technique known as optogenetics, described as the discovery of a molecular switch for nerve cells.
Optogenetics combines light with genetic changes in neurons so that researchers can switch individual cells in a living brain on or off.
The method has let scientists map how particular cell types shape behaviour such as learning, fear, addiction and movement.
The prize is decided by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
The three laureates share prize money of 12 million Swedish crowns.