Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discovery concerning optogenetics

October 5, 2026

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute on 5 October 2026 in Stockholm, Sweden for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Check the complete details about the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 winners with prize money of $1.2 million and some key facts and important details about the Medicine Physiology Nobel Prize here in this Veranda RACE article.

Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 Winners Announced

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 has been jointly awarded to “Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel” by the Nobel Academy at the Karolinska Institute for “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics’ in Stockholm, Sweden on 5 October 2026.

Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discovery concerning optogenetics

This year’s Nobel Medicine Prize recipients in 2026 are Karl Deisseroth from USA, Peter Hegemann from the Germany and Georg Nagel from Germany.

Their work has helped scientists across the world understand how light can be used to control the activity of cells, particularly nerve cells. This has opened new possibilities for studying the brain and developing treatments for neurological and other disorders.

Who are the Nobel Prize Medicine Winners in 2026?

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for ‘their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics’.

The Nobel Prize Medicine laureates are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university. The Nobel Prize Medicine Winners 2026 will receive a prize sum of 12 million Swedish crowns or $1.2 million, which is shared if there are multiple winners.

Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discovery concerning optogenetics

Karl Deisseroth

Born: 18 November 1971

Born in: Boston, USA

Working in: Standford University, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute USA

Prize Share: 1/3

Peter Hegemann

Born: 11 December 1954

Born in: Munster, Germany

Working in: Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

Prize Share: 1/3

Georg Nagel

Born: 24 August 1953

Born in: Weingarten, Germany

Working in: University of Wurzburg, Germany

Prize Share: 1/3

Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered channel rhodopsin, a protein with unique properties. They found that regardless of which cell they put the protein in, those cells became light sensitive.

Karl Deisseroth introduced the gene for channelrhodopsin into the nerve cells from rats. By illuminating the cells with blue light, Deisseroth was able to trigger a nerve signal. Later, Peter made the light-controlled switch for nerve cells to work in the brains of living mice.

This method of controlling nerve signals with light is now called optogenetics.

Using optogenetics, researchers have been able to revel neural circuits governing specific memories, feelings and behaviours relevant for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

What is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine?

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is an international prize.

It is an award given in the field of medicine or physiology and administered by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska University ins Stockholm, Sweden.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to outstanding discoveries in the field of medicine or physiology.

This Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was established in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation according to Alfred Nobel’s will to create a series of prizes for those who confer the ‘greatest benefit on Mankind’ in Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Physiology or Medicine and Literature.

The laureates of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology are selected by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

The Norwegian Nobel Foundation usually announces the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in the month of October every year.

The cash reward for the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 2026 will be 12 million Swedish kroner (SEK) or $1.2 million.

Key Facts about the Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded 117 times since 1901 until 2026.

Between 1901 and 2026, the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to 235 individual Nobel Peace medicine Laureates.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was first awarded in 1901 to German physiologist Emil von Behring ‘for his work on serum therapy and the development of vaccine against diptheria’.

Frederick Banting is the youngest Nobel Medicine Prize laureate and was awarded in 1923 at the age of 31 ‘for the discovery of insulin’.

The oldest Nobel Medicine Prize laureate is Peyton Rous and he was received it at the age of 87 in 1996 ‘for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses.

Gerty Cori was the first woman laureate to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1947 ‘for her role in elucidating the metabolism of glucose, including treatment of diabetes’.

Out of the 235 Nobel Medicine Prize laureates, 14 are women. Of these 14 women, Barabara McClintock is the only one who has received an unshared Nobel Prize in Medicine.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was jointly awarded to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi ‘for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance and regulatory T cells’.

Nobel Prize Medicine Winners from 1901 to 2026

You can find the list of Nobel Prize Winners for Medicine or Physiology starting from 1901 until 2026 in the below table from Veranda RACE:

Nobel Prize Medicine Winners: 1091 to 2026
Winners	Year	Citation
Emil von Behring	1901	Serum therapy, particularly against diphtheria.
Ronald Ross	1902	Explaining how malaria enters the body.
Niels Ryberg Finsen	1903	Treating diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light.
Ivan Pavlov	1904	Explaining the physiology of digestion.
Robert Koch	1905	Research and discoveries concerning tuberculosis.
Camillo Golgi; Santiago Ramón y Cajal	1906	Revealing the nervous system’s structure.
Alphonse Laveran	1907	Establishing the disease-causing role of protozoa.
Ilya Mechnikov; Paul Ehrlich	1908	Research on immunity.
Theodor Kocher	1909	Research on thyroid function, disease and surgery.
Albrecht Kossel	1910	Research on proteins and nucleic substances in cells.
Allvar Gullstrand	1911	Explaining the eye’s optical properties.
Alexis Carrel	1912	Vascular suturing and transplantation of vessels and organs.
Charles Richet	1913	Research on anaphylaxis.
Robert Bárány	1914	Research on the vestibular apparatus’s function and disorders.
—	1915	Prize not awarded.
—	1916	Prize not awarded.
—	1917	Prize not awarded.
—	1918	Prize not awarded.
Jules Bordet	1919	Discoveries about immunity.
August Krogh	1920	Discovering how capillary activity is regulated.
—	1921	Prize not awarded.
Archibald V. Hill	1922	Explaining heat production in muscles.
Otto Meyerhof	1922	Linking oxygen consumption and lactic acid metabolism in muscles.
Frederick G. Banting; John Macleod	1923	Discovering insulin.
Willem Einthoven	1924	Explaining the electrocardiogram’s mechanism.
—	1925	Prize not awarded.
Johannes Fibiger	1926	Work recognised as the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma.
Julius Wagner-Jauregg	1927	Using malaria inoculation to treat dementia paralytica.
Charles Nicolle	1928	Research on typhus.
Christiaan Eijkman	1929	Discovering the vitamin that prevents polyneuritis.
Sir Frederick Hopkins	1929	Discovering vitamins essential for growth.
Karl Landsteiner	1930	Identifying human blood groups.
Otto Warburg	1931	Explaining the respiratory enzyme’s nature and action.
Sir Charles Sherrington; Edgar Adrian	1932	Discoveries about neuron function.
Thomas H. Morgan	1933	Establishing chromosomes’ role in inheritance.
George H. Whipple; George R. Minot; William P. Murphy	1934	Developing liver treatment for anaemia.
Hans Spemann	1935	Discovering the organiser effect in embryo development.
Sir Henry Dale; Otto Loewi	1936	Establishing chemical transmission of nerve signals.
Albert Szent-Györgyi	1937	Discoveries about biological oxidation, vitamin C and fumaric acid.
Corneille Heymans	1938	Explaining sinus and aortic mechanisms regulating breathing.
Gerhard Domagk	1939	Discovering Prontosil’s antibacterial action.
—	1940	Prize not awarded.
—	1941	Prize not awarded.
—	1942	Prize not awarded.
Henrik Dam	1943	Discovering vitamin K.
Edward A. Doisy	1943	Identifying vitamin K’s chemical nature.
Joseph Erlanger; Herbert S. Gasser	1944	Revealing specialised functions of individual nerve fibres.
Sir Alexander Fleming; Ernst B. Chain; Sir Howard Florey	1945	Discovering penicillin and its effectiveness against infections.
Hermann J. Muller	1946	Demonstrating that X-rays cause mutations.
Carl Cori; Gerty Cori	1947	Explaining glycogen’s catalytic conversion.
Bernardo Houssay	1947	Establishing anterior pituitary hormone involvement in sugar metabolism.
Paul Müller	1948	Discovering DDT’s effectiveness against arthropods.
Walter Hess	1949	Explaining how the interbrain coordinates internal organs.
Egas Moniz	1949	Work recognised for leucotomy’s therapeutic value in certain psychoses.
Edward C. Kendall; Tadeus Reichstein; Philip S. Hench	1950	Discovering adrenal cortex hormones, their structures and effects.
Max Theiler	1951	Discoveries about yellow fever and its control.
Selman A. Waksman	1952	Discovering streptomycin, effective against tuberculosis.
Hans Krebs	1953	Discovering the citric acid cycle.
Fritz Lipmann	1953	Discovering coenzyme A and its metabolic importance.
John F. Enders; Thomas H. Weller; Frederick C. Robbins	1954	Growing poliovirus in cultures of different tissues.
Hugo Theorell	1955	Explaining oxidation enzymes’ nature and action.
André F. Cournand; Werner Forssmann; Dickinson W. Richards	1956	Discoveries involving cardiac catheterisation and circulatory disorders.
Daniel Bovet	1957	Discovering synthetic compounds that block certain bodily substances.
George Beadle; Edward Tatum	1958	Showing how genes regulate specific chemical processes.
Joshua Lederberg	1958	Discovering bacterial genetic recombination and genetic organisation.
Severo Ochoa; Arthur Kornberg	1959	Explaining how RNA and DNA are synthesised.
Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet; Peter Medawar	1960	Discovering acquired immune tolerance.
Georg von Békésy	1961	Explaining physical stimulation mechanisms in the cochlea.
Francis Crick; James Watson; Maurice Wilkins	1962	Revealing nucleic acid structure and its role in information transfer.
Sir John Eccles; Alan Hodgkin; Andrew Huxley	1963	Explaining ionic mechanisms of nerve-cell excitation and inhibition.
Konrad Bloch; Feodor Lynen	1964	Explaining cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism and regulation.
François Jacob; André Lwoff; Jacques Monod	1965	Explaining genetic regulation of enzyme and virus production.
Peyton Rous	1966	Discovering viruses that cause tumours.
Charles B. Huggins	1966	Discovering hormonal treatment for prostate cancer.
Ragnar Granit; Keffer Hartline; George Wald	1967	Explaining physiological and chemical processes underlying vision.
Robert W. Holley; H. Gobind Khorana; Marshall W. Nirenberg	1968	Deciphering the genetic code’s role in making proteins.
Max Delbrück; Alfred D. Hershey; Salvador E. Luria	1969	Explaining viral replication and genetic structure.
Sir Bernard Katz; Ulf von Euler; Julius Axelrod	1970	Explaining neurotransmitter storage, release and inactivation.
Earl W. Sutherland, Jr.	1971	Explaining how hormones act.
Gerald M. Edelman; Rodney R. Porter	1972	Revealing antibodies’ chemical structure.
Karl von Frisch; Konrad Lorenz; Nikolaas Tinbergen	1973	Explaining the organisation and triggering of individual and social behaviour.
Albert Claude; Christian de Duve; George E. Palade	1974	Revealing cells’ structural and functional organisation.
David Baltimore; Renato Dulbecco; Howard M. Temin	1975	Explaining interactions between tumour viruses and cellular genetic material.
Baruch S. Blumberg; D. Carleton Gajdusek	1976	Discovering mechanisms behind infectious diseases’ origins and spread.
Roger Guillemin; Andrew V. Schally	1977	Discovering how the brain produces peptide hormones.
Rosalyn Yalow	1977	Developing radioimmunoassays for peptide hormones.
Werner Arber; Daniel Nathans; Hamilton O. Smith	1978	Discovering restriction enzymes and their genetic applications.
Allan M. Cormack; Godfrey N. Hounsfield	1979	Developing computed tomography (CT).
Baruj Benacerraf; Jean Dausset; George D. Snell	1980	Discovering genetically determined cell-surface structures controlling immune responses.
Roger W. Sperry	1981	Revealing specialised functions of the brain’s hemispheres.
David H. Hubel; Torsten N. Wiesel	1981	Explaining how the visual system processes information.
Sune K. Bergström; Bengt I. Samuelsson; John R. Vane	1982	Discoveries about prostaglandins and related active substances.
Barbara McClintock	1983	Discovering movable genetic elements.
Niels K. Jerne; Georges J.F. Köhler; César Milstein	1984	Theories of immune-system control and principles for producing monoclonal antibodies.
Michael S. Brown; Joseph L. Goldstein	1985	Explaining how cholesterol metabolism is regulated.
Stanley Cohen; Rita Levi-Montalcini	1986	Discovering growth factors.
Susumu Tonegawa	1987	Explaining the genetic basis of antibody diversity.
Sir James W. Black; Gertrude B. Elion; George H. Hitchings	1988	Establishing key principles of drug treatment.
J. Michael Bishop; Harold E. Varmus	1989	Establishing the cellular origin of retroviral cancer genes.
Joseph E. Murray; E. Donnall Thomas	1990	Discoveries enabling organ and cell transplantation to treat disease.
Erwin Neher; Bert Sakmann	1991	Revealing how individual cellular ion channels function.
Edmond H. Fischer; Edwin G. Krebs	1992	Explaining reversible protein phosphorylation in biological regulation.
Richard J. Roberts; Phillip A. Sharp	1993	Discovering split genes.
Alfred G. Gilman; Martin Rodbell	1994	Discovering G-proteins and their cellular signalling role.
Edward B. Lewis; Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard; Eric F. Wieschaus	1995	Explaining genetic regulation of early embryo development.
Peter C. Doherty; Rolf M. Zinkernagel	1996	Explaining the specificity of cell-mediated immunity.
Stanley B. Prusiner	1997	Discovering prions as a new infectious principle.
Robert F. Furchgott; Louis J. Ignarro; Ferid Murad	1998	Establishing nitric oxide’s signalling role in the cardiovascular system.
Günter Blobel	1999	Discovering signals directing proteins to their cellular destinations.
Arvid Carlsson; Paul Greengard; Eric Kandel	2000	Discoveries about signalling within the nervous system.
Leland Hartwell; Tim Hunt; Sir Paul Nurse	2001	Identifying central regulators of cell division.
Sydney Brenner; H. Robert Horvitz; John E. Sulston	2002	Explaining genetic control of organ formation and programmed cell death.
Paul C. Lauterbur; Sir Peter Mansfield	2003	Discoveries enabling magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Richard Axel; Linda B. Buck	2004	Discovering smell receptors and the organisation of smell perception.
Barry J. Marshall; J. Robin Warren	2005	Discovering Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and ulcers.
Andrew Z. Fire; Craig C. Mello	2006	Discovering gene silencing through double-stranded RNA.
Mario R. Capecchi; Sir Martin J. Evans; Oliver Smithies	2007	Establishing targeted gene modification in mice using embryonic stem cells.
Harald zur Hausen	2008	Establishing that human papillomaviruses cause cervical cancer.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi; Luc Montagnier	2008	Discovering HIV.
Elizabeth H. Blackburn; Carol W. Greider; Jack W. Szostak	2009	Explaining chromosome protection by telomeres and telomerase.
Robert G. Edwards	2010	Developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Bruce A. Beutler; Jules A. Hoffmann	2011	Discovering how innate immunity is activated.
Ralph M. Steinman	2011	Discovering dendritic cells and their adaptive-immunity role.
Sir John B. Gurdon; Shinya Yamanaka	2012	Showing that mature cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells.
James E. Rothman; Randy W. Schekman; Thomas C. Südhof	2013	Discovering how vesicle transport is controlled inside cells.
John O’Keefe; May-Britt Moser; Edvard I. Moser	2014	Discovering the brain’s positioning-system cells.
William C. Campbell; Satoshi Ōmura	2015	Discovering a new treatment for roundworm infections.
Tu Youyou	2015	Discovering a new malaria treatment.
Yoshinori Ohsumi	2016	Explaining mechanisms of autophagy.
Jeffrey C. Hall; Michael Rosbash; Michael W. Young	2017	Explaining molecular control of the circadian clock.
James P. Allison; Tasuku Honjo	2018	Discovering cancer treatment by releasing immune-system inhibition.
William G. Kaelin Jr; Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe; Gregg L. Semenza	2019	Explaining how cells detect and adapt to oxygen levels.
Harvey J. Alter; Michael Houghton; Charles M. Rice	2020	Discovering the hepatitis C virus.
David Julius; Ardem Patapoutian	2021	Identifying receptors that detect temperature and touch.
Svante Pääbo	2022	Discoveries about extinct hominin genomes and human evolution.
Katalin Karikó; Drew Weissman	2023	Discovering nucleoside modifications enabling effective COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.
Victor Ambros; Gary Ruvkun	2024	Discovering microRNA and its control of gene activity after transcription.
Mary E. Brunkow; Fred Ramsdell; Shimon Sakaguchi	2025	Discoveries explaining peripheral immune tolerance.
Kar Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel	2026	Discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

Nobel Prize Winners in 2025

Find the detailed list of other Nobel Prize winners in 2025 and laureates with this table below:

Nobel Prize Winners List in 2025
Nobel Physics Prize Winners in 2025	Check details here
Nobel Medicine Prize Winners in 2025	Check details here
Nobel Literature Prize Winners in 20205	Check details here
Nobel Peace Prize Winners in 2025	Check details here

FAQs

Has the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2026 been announced?

Yes. The winners of the Nobel Medicine Prize for 2026 were announced on 5 October 2026 by the Nobel Academy at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 2026?

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 has been jointly awarded to “Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel” by the Nobel Academy at the Karolinska Institute for “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics’ in Stockholm, Sweden on 5 October 2026.

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