The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries of light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, the Nobel Academy announced on Monday.
The three scientists won the prestigious award for discoveries that have advanced the use of light to control cellular activity, reports DW.
The medicine prize is the first Nobel award to be announced this week. Laureates in physics, chemistry, literature and peace will be named in the days leading up to Friday.
Last year’s medicine prize went jointly to US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell and Japan’s Shimun Sakaguchi for “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”
The Nobel prizes will be presented at ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10.
Each prize carries a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to just over €1 million or $1.2 million.
