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Nobel Prize awarded for optogenetics. Congrats to Karl Deisseroth, Hegemann, and Nagel. The prize is well-deserved, for work that has been transformative. a few quick thoughts 1/4 🧪#neuroscience

Mark Histed

@markhisted.org

- This prize was long anticipated and I’m very glad it’s been given. - Deisseroth’s lab has done a huge amount of work they ran out of space to detail, developing opsins of many sorts. I have huge respect for him and Hegemann and Nagel…

nobelprize.orgNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 was awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.”

Mark Histed

@markhisted.org

They have written careful papers I’ve spent many hours poring over. - Only three people can share the prize but like most science many people contributed to this story- Miesenbock, Kramer, Boyden, Gradinaru; Tank, Packer, Adesnik and many others for 2p optogenetics.

5/10/26, 12:15 pm2 reposts23 likes

Mark Histed

@markhisted.org

- I laughed when I read this. Yes this was a worry back then and we also used to worry about whether retinal, required for photo cycling, would be present in neurons. The field has solved this and many other challenges. Congrats to the awardees!

Mark Histed

@markhisted.org

Oh I shd add: Deisseroth’s work was (say it w me!) supported with public funding through federal science agencies incl NIH, NSF, and DARPA. And I daresay few political deciders in 2004 would have been excited to put algal proteins in HEK cells or neurons. Scientists knew, though.

Mark Histed

@markhisted.org

In addition to the big discoveries described in the Nobel Prize announcement, I’ll highlight this wonderful paper from Hegemann. They characterize the photocycles of ChR2. This kind of careful, brick-in-the-wall work is key to science. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...