2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded for optogenetics discovery

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be shared equally among Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University; Peter Hegemann, PhD, of Humboldt University of Berlin; and Georg Nagel, PhD, of the University of Würzburg, “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.”¹ The prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor—approximately US $1.2 million at current exchange rates—to be split equally among the three laureates.¹