Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 Goes to NeuroCure PI Peter Hegemann
05.10.2026
Peter Hegemann, Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence NeuroCure, has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Georg Nagel and Karl Deisseroth. They are being honored for their pioneering discoveries of light-gated ion channels and their contributions to the development of optogenetics.
Peter Hegemann
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet announced the award in Stockholm on October 5, 2026. Hegemann conducts his research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where his work has made a major contribution to laying the foundations for optogenetics and to understanding how light-sensitive proteins can be used to control the activity of nerve cells.
Hegemann has been studying this phenomenon for many years
Together with Georg Nagel, Hegemann discovered light-sensitive proteins known as channelrhodopsins in single-celled algae in the 1990s. These proteins respond to light and allow ions to pass through the cell membrane. Karl Deisseroth later transferred this principle to nerve cells and developed it into a method that makes it possible to switch neuronal activity on and off in the living brain with great precision.
Optogenetics has had a major impact on neuroscience. It allows researchers to study individual nerve cells and neural circuits with high temporal and spatial precision, helping them better understand how the brain processes memories, emotions and behavior. Today, the method is used in neuroscience laboratories around the world and is opening up new perspectives for the development of potential therapies.
We warmly congratulate Peter Hegemann on this special honor and are delighted to have his research as part of NeuroCure!
Further information
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/popular-information/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/hegemann/facts/
Contact:
Peter Hegemann
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Institute of Biology, Experimental Biophysics
Invalidenstraße 42, D-10115 Berlin