NAS Members Receive Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has announced that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded jointly to NAS member Karl Deisseroth, NAS international member Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered a remarkable protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga. Karl Deisseroth transformed the protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells. The laureates have laid the foundation of a new era in neuroscience.