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Episode 65: The Microbe that Learned to Flip a Neuron
Case 1.65

Episode 65: The Microbe that Learned to Flip a Neuron

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On October 5, 2026, in Stockholm, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet gave the Prize in Physiology or Medicine to three people who never set out to build a remote control for memory. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel share it “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” The prize money is 12 million Swedish kronor, split three ways. The press line is almost too clean: light-seeking algae gave us a switch for nerve cells. Here is the less clean version, which is the better one. This is Episode 65.


Sources

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/press-release/


https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/popular-information/


https://www.science.org/content/article/method-controlling-brain-cells-light-wins-nobel


https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/deisseroth-hegemann-nagelwin-2026-nobel-medicine-prize-2026-10-05/


https://www.the-scientist.com/nobel-prize-for-optogenetics-75099


https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1936192100


https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1072068


https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1525


https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11028


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01351-4


https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12860890/


Key papers behind those links: Nagel et al., Science 2002 (channelrhodopsin-1); Nagel et al., PNAS 2003 (channelrhodopsin-2); Boyden, Zhang, Bamberg, Nagel, Deisseroth et al., Nature Neuroscience 2005; Aravanis et al., Journal of Neural Engineering 2007 (living mouse); Liu et al., Nature 2012 (fear engram); Sahel et al., Nature Medicine 2021 (partial vision restoration).