An American scientist has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for helping pioneer breakthrough research on controlling brain cells with light. Karl Deisseroth, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University, received the prestigious honor on Monday alongside German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their work on optogenetics, a method that shows how “nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behaviors” in the brain. The Nobel Committee praised their research for helping uncover mysteries of the brain’s inner workings that had remained unsolved for decades. After Hegemann and Nagel discovered a unique protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga, Deisseroth turned it into a “light-controlled switch for nerve cells” that essentially controls nerve signals with light. Researchers have already used optogenetics to uncover “neural circuits governing specific memories, feelings, and behaviors” relevant to neurological and psychiatric disorders. It is also being used to help restore sight in people with visual impairment. “Optogenetics provides opportunities for mapping the brain in a way that we could once only dream of,” Per Svenningsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said in a statement.
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