Nobel Medicine Prize goes to 3 scientists for research into brain activity

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to three scientists for research into the mechanisms the brain uses to switch individual nerve cells on or off.

Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, were honoured for their research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann and Nagel work at Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Wurzburg in Germany, respectively.

The Nobel Assembly said their work had opened a new era in neuroscience, with optogenetics now being used in laboratories around the world to study the brain.

The research began with Hegemann's study of how a single-celled type of green algae swims towards light. He and Nagel discovered a protein that, when illuminated by blue light, opens a channel and creates an electrical impulse. Introducing the protein into other cells makes them sensitive to light.

Deisseroth later worked with the gene controlling the protein to develop a light-controlled switch for nerve cells in the brains of living mice.

The technique allows researchers to switch individual nerve cells and brain circuits on and off using light, helping them study how the brain works and better understand pathways linked to behaviour and disease.

Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the medicine committee, said he was able to reach all three laureates by phone on Monday.

The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobel week.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

Last year's medicine prize went to three scientists researching the immune system.

The medicine prize is followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, followed by the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on 12 October.