How pond algae led to a Nobel prize and a new way to study the brain

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won for optogenetics, a technique that uses light to switch brain cells on and off.

By: Robert Lucas, University of Manchester, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: October 5, 2026

Words: 965

Last Updated: 1 week, 6 days ago

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By Robert Lucas, University of Manchester

Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were honoured for their research into “light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”.

Peter Hegemann, at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, at the University of Würzburg, wanted to understand how a tiny, single-celled alga called Chlamydomonas senses light. Light-sensing is not …

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