In clinical trials, researchers are restoring vision to people blinded by a condition called retinitis pigmentosa by inserting a light-sensitive protein in the retina.
Researchers also hope optogenetics could improve cochlea implants, allowing more precise stimulation of the auditory nerve than current electrical devices. [...] Last year, American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell and Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi won the prize for work shedding light on how the immune system spares healthy cells, creating openings for possible new treatments of diseases such as cancer. [...] STOCKHOLM, Oct 5 (Reuters) - American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their discoveries on light and optogenetics that have helped understand how the brain works.
The Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute medical university said Deisseroth, 54, Hegemann, 71, and Nagel, 73, were selected for their "discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics."
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