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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for research that made optogenetics possible. The technique uses light-sensitive proteins to control nerve cells and study brain circuits; it is mainly a research tool, not an established treatment for the conditions it helps scientists investigate.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded Monday to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for research that enabled optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control nerve cells and study brain activity. The Nobel Assembly said the method is now used in laboratories around the world to investigate how the brain works.
The work combined discoveries about light-gated ion channels—proteins that allow charged particles to pass through cell membranes when activated by light—with methods for using them to influence nerve cells. Hegemann studied how single-celled green algae move toward light. He and Nagel identified a protein that opens a channel when illuminated by blue light, producing an electrical impulse. Introducing the protein into other cells makes those cells responsive to light.
Deisseroth built on that finding by working with the gene that encodes the protein. He developed methods to make neurons in living mice respond to light, including tiny optical fibers that deliver light to cells modified with the light-sensitive gene. Researchers can use the approach to activate or inhibit selected neurons and circuits, then observe how that activity relates to brain function and behavior.
Deisseroth described the principle as using light not simply to observe, but to control activity. The Nobel Assembly said the technique has helped researchers examine pathways associated with behavior and disease. Assembly member Abdel El Manira said optogenetics has also helped reveal how particular circuits are disrupted in conditions including blindness, depression, addiction and dementia. Those research applications do not mean the technique is an established treatment for those conditions.
How Light Lets Researchers Test Brain Circuits
Optogenetics gives researchers a way to intervene in specific neurons and neural circuits, rather than only recording broad patterns of brain activity. That ability helps investigators test whether a circuit contributes to a behavior or condition: they can alter activity in selected cells and study what changes. The distinction matters because observing that two events occur together does not, by itself, show that one causes the other.
Jeremy Berg, a University of Pittsburgh scientist who was at the U.S. National Institutes of Health when Deisseroth received early major funding for the work, called optogenetics a precise set of tools for experiments that are difficult to conduct by other means. The method has widened the questions scientists can ask about brain function, but the source report characterizes it primarily as a research technique. Findings from laboratory experiments may inform future treatment research; they do not establish that optogenetics can treat the broad range of conditions being studied.
Deisseroth said a form he called direct optogenetics is being used to test a treatment for a genetic form of vision loss, retinitis pigmentosa. The report does not provide trial results or details about that treatment. Its mention is therefore evidence of investigation, not proof of effectiveness or availability to patients.
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From Algae Proteins to Mouse Neurons
The prize recognizes a sequence of research rather than a single experiment. Hegemann’s work on algae led to the study of proteins that respond to light; he and Nagel identified a light-activated channel. Deisseroth then adapted the underlying genetic mechanism to make nerve cells controllable with light. Together, those contributions established the basis for optogenetics, the name commonly used for this approach.
The Nobel Assembly said the tool is used in laboratories worldwide. Its scientific value lies in helping researchers probe how particular brain pathways work, including pathways that may be involved in disease. The assembly also stressed that many questions about the brain remain unanswered, even as the method has given scientists a new way to investigate them.
Deisseroth is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor at Stanford University in California. Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin, and Nagel most recently worked at the University of Würzburg in Germany, according to the assembly. The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and carries 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, to be shared by the three laureates.
““People usually think about light as a way of collecting information to observe things. But this is the opposite of that. This is using light to control things, to make things happen, and to do it in a very precise way.””
— Karl Deisseroth, Nobel laureate
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Clinical Uses Still Under Study
The prize announcement and source report describe optogenetics mainly as a laboratory method. They do not establish that it is a routine or approved treatment for blindness, depression, addiction, dementia, autism or schizophrenia. Deisseroth said other scientists are pursuing treatment research, including a test involving a genetic form of retinitis pigmentosa, but the report gives no information on the study’s stage, results, participant numbers or timeline.
It is also not clear from the report how widely the technique can be applied beyond research settings, or which potential clinical approaches may prove safe and effective. The Nobel Assembly’s description of research implications should not be read as confirmation that the method can treat those conditions. Further findings and clinical evidence would be needed to clarify any medical use.
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Nobel Week Continues in Stockholm
The medicine award opened Nobel week. According to the report, the physics prize was scheduled for Tuesday, chemistry for Wednesday and literature for Thursday, followed by the peace prize on Friday. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was scheduled for Oct. 12.
For the laureates’ research, the next developments are likely to come from ongoing neuroscience studies and any further reports on clinical investigations using optogenetics. The source material does not give a timetable for those studies. Deisseroth said that, shortly after receiving the news, he planned to pack school lunches for his children; committee secretary Thomas Perlmann said he had reached all three winners Monday.
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Key Questions
Who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine?
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel received the prize for research that enabled optogenetics.
What is optogenetics?
Optogenetics is a research method that uses light-sensitive proteins and light to control selected nerve cells or circuits, allowing scientists to study their function.
Does the prize mean optogenetics is a treatment for brain disorders?
No. The report describes optogenetics mainly as a research tool. It notes that scientists are pursuing possible treatment applications, but does not report evidence that the method is an established treatment for the conditions mentioned.
What did Hegemann and Nagel discover?
They identified a protein in research connected to light-responsive green algae. When illuminated by blue light, the protein opens a channel that produces an electrical impulse; the finding helped researchers make other cells light-sensitive.
How much is the prize worth?
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, to be shared by the three laureates.
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