Using Light to Control Brain Cells – Neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth Explains How He Made His Nobel-Winning Discovery

Using light to control brain cells – neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth explains how he made his Nobel-winning discovery

Optogenetics involves the use of light to alter the activity of neurons. Westend61/Getty ImagesThe 2026 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine honored Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their work developing optogenetics – a technique that allows researchers to control the activity of neurons with light. The Conversation Weekly podcast talked to Karl Deisseroth, a neuroscientist at Stanford University, about his journey developin…

Nobel-winning Discovery Illuminates The Brain

(Above): Illustration of scientist using a switch for nerve cells. (Mattias Karlén/The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet) Astronomers mapped distant planets, physicists split atoms, and engineers built machines capable of imitating conversation. Yet the organ that makes all of that possible remains one of science’s greatest mysteries. Nobel prize-winning research can shed some light on...