{"id":373267,"date":"2026-10-06T16:01:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=373267"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:31:25","slug":"2026-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/2026-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News: <\/strong>Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel and Karl Deisseroth won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries on optogenetics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_373274\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-373274\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-373274\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-The-Tribune.jpg?resize=300%2C292&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine\" width=\"300\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-The-Tribune.jpg?resize=300%2C292&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-The-Tribune.jpg?resize=768%2C748&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-The-Tribune.jpg?w=853&amp;ssl=1 853w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-373274\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; The Tribune<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>2026 Nobel Prize in<\/strong> <strong>Physiology\/Medicine<\/strong> was awarded for <strong>discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The work enabled researchers to <strong>use light to control specific nerve cells<\/strong> and study <strong>how particular neural circuits shape memories, feelings and behaviours. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It also helped <strong>establish causal links between neural activity and behaviour.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Winners:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Peter Hegemann<\/strong> &#8211; from <strong>Germany<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Georg Nagel<\/strong> &#8211; from <strong>Germany.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Karl Deisseroth <\/strong>&#8211; from <strong>USA.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\">Key Discovery by winners<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Peter Hegemann:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Hegemann studied the <strong>single-celled alga Chlamydomonas<\/strong> and investigated <strong>how it could rapidly move towards a light source.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He and Nagel<\/strong> <strong>discovered channelrhodopsins<\/strong>, light-sensitive proteins that act as ion channels and open when exposed to light.<\/li>\n<li>They showed that <strong>introducing the gene for channelrhodopsin-2 into other cells<\/strong> could make them <strong>light-sensitive and generate electrical signals.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Georg Nagel:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Nagel <strong>tested the genes identified by Hegemann<\/strong> by <strong>introducing them into frog egg cells<\/strong> and found that the resulting proteins acted as light-sensitive ion channels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>He and Hegemann<\/strong> showed <strong>that channelrhodopsin-2 could open within 0.2 milliseconds of a light pulse<\/strong> and <strong>allow positively charged ions to flow.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In 2003, they <strong>proposed channelrhodopsin-2 as a tool for generating electrical impulses in cells using light.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Karl Deisseroth:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2005, Deisseroth showed <strong>that channelrhodopsin-2 could trigger nerve signals in rat nerve cells<\/strong> when exposed to blue light.<\/li>\n<li>In 2007, his group <strong>used the technique in living mice to control specific nerve cells and trigger whisker movement.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In <strong>2012, Deisseroth and Susumu Tonegawa<\/strong> used the method to <strong>reactivate cells associated with a fear memory,<\/strong> demonstrating which <strong>nerve cells were necessary for a specific memory.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Optogenetics<\/strong> has helped researchers <strong>identify neural circuits<\/strong> that control <strong>pain, social behaviour, thirst, food consumption, reward, attention, circadian rhythm and fever.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The technique has deepened understanding of conditions such as <strong>depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In ongoing <strong>clinical trials for retinitis pigmentosa<\/strong>, a <strong>channelrhodopsin-like protein <\/strong>placed in the<strong> retina <\/strong>has helped <strong>restore some vision <\/strong>in a blind person.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel and Karl Deisseroth won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries on optogenetics. About 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology\/Medicine was awarded for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. The work enabled researchers to use light to control specific nerve cells&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/2026-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-373267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}