In optogenetics, scientists control neurons by stimulating them with light, potentially unlocking breakthroughs for conditions such as dementia, depression and blindness.
Three scientists won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine last Monday (Oct 5, 2026) for their work in the field: American neurologist and Stanford University professor Dr Karl Deisseroth, 54; German biophysicist and Humboldt University of Berlin professor Dr Peter Hegemann, 71; and German biophysicist and University of Wuerzburg professor Dr Georg Nagel, 73.
“Being able to manipulate cells with a combination of light and genetics has been transformational across the biological sciences,” said Imperial College London professor of neurotechnology Dr Simon Schultz.
Here are some key facts about optogenetics and its uses.
Protein discovery
In a type of green algae, Prof Hegemann and Prof Nagel discovered a light-sensitive protein that they dubbed channelrhodopsin.
Prof Deisseroth introduced it genetically into a cell and stimulated it with light, which triggered a nerve signal in rats and mice.
Controlling the light, scientists can switch a neuron’s signal on and off with minute precision.
By turning off some neurons and observing others, they can track which areas affect certain functions.
Introducing the prize, Nobel medicine committee member and neuroscientist Prof Dr Abdel El Manira said the discovery shed light on functions “from parental behaviour and aggression to anxiety and fear, as well as fundamental physiological drives such as thirst and water intake”.
Memory
Prof Schultz said his own teams had used optogenetics “as a closed loop treatment for memory disorders” by lengthening the pulses that help the brain store memories.
“The next step is to demonstrate that we can improve learning and memory in complex tasks,” he said in comments released by Imperial College.
Blindness
United States’ University of Pittsburgh Medical School Department of Ophthalmology chairman Prof Dr Jose-Alain Sahel said that his team carried out promising trials using optogenetics to treat a degenerative disease.
They used gene therapy to introduce the key protein to a patient’s defective eye cells and projected light through special goggles – successfully activating the retinal cells.
“Vision restoration is probably the most fertile ground for relatively rapid medical advances” in the field, according to Cambridge University senior molecular biologist Dr Marco Tripodi in Britain.
Nerve illnesses
Beyond such direct therapeutic interventions, optogenetics could serve “as a discovery tool that reveals new therapeutic targets for neurological and psychiatric disease”, said Dr Tripodi.
Epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease “provide obvious examples where the ability to control defined neuronal populations with high precision could ultimately be valuable”, he said.
The prizewinning research could help “understand what goes wrong in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy”, Spain’s CEU Cardenal Herrera University neural researcher Dr Jorge Brotons Mas said in comments published by Britain’s Science Media Centre.
Mental health
Research also aims to help address depression and anxiety disorders, several scientists said.
Imperial College associate professor in bioengineering Dr Christopher Rowlands noted that there are “nascent trials” underway looking to use it to treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction.
Consciousness and AI
Journalists at the award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, questioned the committee about whether the science shed light on parallels between real and artificial brains.
Could it help us understand subjective consciousness?
“For now, this tool does not help us understand what consciousness is,” said Prof El Manira.
“It will be a Nobel Prize some years ahead, I’m sure.” – AFP
