In Case You Haven't Heard…

Stanford University psychiatrist and bioengineer Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with German researchers Peter Hegemann, Ph.D., and Georg Nagel, Ph.D., for discoveries involving light‐gated ion channels and optogenetics, according to a Psychiatric News Alert . Optogenetics allows researchers to use light to control the activity of selected nerve cells, providing a way to examine how particular neural circuits influence memories, emotions and behaviors. Hegemann and Nagel discovered channel‐rhodopsin, a light‐sensitive protein, and Deisseroth developed its use as a light‐controlled switch for nerve cells. The technique has enabled researchers to identify neural circuits associated with specific memories, feelings and behaviors relevant to neurological and psychiatric disorders. Per Svenningsson, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said optogenetics has provided opportunities for mapping the brain that researchers “could once only dream of.”