The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for their contributions to the development of optogenetics. The technique enables controlling neuronal activity with light and studying, with greater precision, the relationship between neural circuits, memory, emotions, and behavior. An approach that has opened new avenues for researching neurological and psychiatric diseases.
Optogenetics: why it matters for neurological and psychiatric research
Optogenetics has allowed researchers to identify neural circuits involved in specific memories, emotions, and behaviors, with important implications for studying neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Among the most promising research applications is the attempt to use it to restore vision in people with visual impairments.
How light controls nerve cells
At the heart of optogenetics lies a channelrhodopsin, a protein located on the cell surface. When struck by blue light, it opens a channel and the flow of ions generates an electrical impulse. Introducing it into other cells can render them light-sensitive.
From channelrhodopsin to application in neuroscience
The history of the technique stems from the studies of Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel on Chlamydomonas, a single-celled alga capable of orienting toward light. In the early 2000s the two researchers identified channelrhodopsin and demonstrated that its insertion into other cells could render them photosensitive.
Karl Deisseroth brought this technology into neuroscience. By introducing the channelrhodopsin gene into rat neurons, he used blue light to activate neural signals. The discovery, published in 2005, was further developed two years later with the use of a light-controlled switch in the brains of living mice.
A new map of brain circuits
Before optogenetics, scientists had an incomplete picture of brain functions. It was possible to link certain areas of the brain to specific roles, but demonstrating causal relationships between the activity of individual neural circuits and complex behaviors was far more challenging.
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