Medicine Prize

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Randy Schekman bought his first microscope at the age of 12. In 2013, he became a medicine laureate. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud To understand how the brain forms memories, feelings and behaviours has long been a dream for researchers. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to optogenetics, which makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain. This method is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries. Press release Popular information: A light-sensitive algal protein energised neuroscience Scientific background: Optogenetics. Discovery of a neuronal switch © The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a protein with unique properties. They found that regardless of which cell they put the protein in, those cells became light sensitive. Deisseroth introduced the gene for channelrhodopsin into nerve cells from rats. By illuminating the cells with blue light, he was able to trigger a nerve signal. Later, he made this light-controlled switch for nerve cells work in the brains of living mice. This method for controlling nerve signals with light is now called optogenetics, and it has rapidly gained global impact. Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach Did you know that light could be used to trigger individual nerve cells? Select the category or categories you would like to filter by Select the category or categories you would like to filter by Physics Chemistry Medicine Literature Peace Economic Sciences Choose a year you would like to search in Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008 HIV Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in patients with swollen lymph glands, radically improving treatment methods for people with AIDS. Scanning electron micrograph of HIV particles infecting a human H9 T cell. NIAID/NIH, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 mRNA vaccines Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman developed mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, contributing to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during the pandemic. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. Courtesy of Penn Medicine, Photography: Peggy Peterson Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2005 Helicobacter pylori Barry Marshall and Robin Warren worked together to discover that stomach ulcers are an infectious disease caused by a bacteria called helicobacter pylori. An illustration of helicobacter pylori. iLexx via Getty Images Learn more about how the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is decided and awarded in this interview with medicine prize awarder Juleen Zierath. Juleen Zierath, professor of physiology © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Andrew Hart Fighting disease Follow a doctor’s mission to prevent amputations caused by diabetes. Ishrat Rahim persists in trying to convince her city’s residents of the benefits of the vaccine. This microbiologist is devoted to finding new medical treatments for infectious diseases. Can you match the right medicine laureate with the right discovery? Have a try! The Nobel Prize categories are physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace and were laid out in the will of Alfred Nobel. Find out more in the FAQ. The Nobel Prize medal. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin. The microscope that medicine laureate Ralph Steinman used daily. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud August Krogh and the Nobel Prize to Banting and Macleod The Nobel Prize and the discovery of vitamins Nobel Prizes and the immune system 1901-2010 Nobel Prizes in nerve signaling 1906-2000 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1901-2000 The Pasteur Institute Robert Koch Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905 for his investigations and discoveries in relation to tuberculosis. Ardem Patapoutian Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. Craig C. Mello Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006 for their discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA. Linda B. Buck Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. Learn about your brain’s place for maps How do we know where we are? How can we find the way from one place to another? Thanks to the discovery of the brain’s “inner GPS” we now have a better understanding for how we manage to orient ourselves in space. Laureate May-Britt Moser in the laboratory Photo: Geir Mo Find out how a cool insight led to a life-saving discovery Tu Youyou scoured ancient literature on herbal medicine in her quest to develop novel malaria therapies. A key insight into how to preserve the active ingredient during processing led to the discovery of artemisinin, which has saved many lives. Tu Youyou, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud Pinpointed the genes that enable cellular recycling Follow how the discoveries Yoshinori Ohsumi made in baker’s yeast led to a new understanding of how our own cells recycle their contents. Autophagy, or ‘self-eating’ refers to the way our cells can degrade and then re-use their own contents. Illustration depicting autophagy Image: The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet Sign up for the monthly newsletter Join thousands of global subscribers enjoying the free monthly Nobel Prize highlights, trivia and up-to-date information.