Nobel prize for medicine goes to trio who developed optogenetics

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel. They won the award for their work on optogenetics, which involves controlling genes with light. According to DW English, this discovery concerns light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

The Nobel Prizes, including the medicine prize, are being awarded this week, with the medicine prize being the first to be announced. The prizes will be presented at ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden on December 10. Each prize carries a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, which is equivalent to just over €1 million or $1.2 million, as reported by DW English.

The Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 for work leading to great advances for humanity, in line with the wishes of the prizes' founder, inventor Alfred Nobel, as stated by Gulf News. This year's prizes will be announced between October 5 and 12.

Brief written by urgent.news from New Scientist, DW English (Top Stories), ABC News (US), Winnipeg Free Press, Gulf News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.