Three Scientists Win Medicine Nobel for Light-Based Nerve Cell Research

Three scientists have received the Nobel Prize in medicine for research that enables individual nerve cells to be controlled and studied using light.

The award went to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University in California, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University in Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg in Germany.

Their work focuses on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. These techniques have helped researchers examine how nerve cells can be switched on and off, offering a way to investigate the activity of the brain at the level of individual cells.

Announcement in Stockholm

The Nobel committee announced the prize at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The three laureates will share prize money of 12 million Swedish kronor, an amount reported as approximately 1.2 million US dollars.

Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the medicine committee, said he managed to reach all three winners by phone on Monday.

The Nobel committee said the method is being used in laboratories around the world to help reveal the brain’s workings. The recognition highlights the importance of techniques that allow scientists to observe and manipulate nerve-cell activity with precision.

Nobel week begins

The medicine award marked the start of Nobel week. Announcements for the physics, chemistry and literature prizes are scheduled to follow, with the peace prize due on Friday. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is scheduled to be announced on Oct. 12.

Last year’s medicine prize was awarded to three scientists for research on the immune system.