DOMINANT ANGLE
Stockholm retains from this Nobel the therapeutic promise of optogenetics for depression, epilepsy, and vision, while recalling that no human application has yet been established outside of ophthalmology.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The prize is shared between Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel, who split 12 million crowns (Expressen, Sveriges Radio).
- 02
Per Svenningsson, Nobel committee president: "Optogenetics has given us opportunities to map the brain in a way we could previously only dream of" (Dagens Nyheter).
- 03
According to Merab Kokaia (Lund), the method works in mice and rats against epilepsy but has not been tested in humans; current clinical trials focus on vision (Aftonbladet).
ANALYSIS
Stockholm, October 6, 2026. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced on Monday, October 5, goes to American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel "for their discoveries concerning light-activated ion channels and optogenetics," writes Dagens Nyheter. The three laureates share 12 million crowns, notes Expressen, which points out that the Nobel Foundation increased the amount by one million.
The Swedish press first explains the mechanics. Sveriges Radio talks about a "light switch for nerve cells." Dagens Nyheter and Expressen tell the story of how it began: Peter Hegemann wondered in the 1990s how the green alga Chlamydomonas could swim towards light, with the reaction in its eye spot taking half a millisecond. Along with Georg Nagel, he identified channelrhodopsine, and then Karl Deisseroth introduced the gene into rodents and the brains of living mice.
Nobel Committee President Per Svenningsson is quoted by several titles: "Optogenetics has given us the means to map the brain like we never could before." Svenska Dagbladet adds a personal portrait, with journalist Therese Bergstedt describing a Deisseroth she met in Stockholm in 2015 as "shy and modest."
The medical angle dominates the news articles. Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet give the floor to Merab Kokaia, from the Lund epilepsy center, who has collaborated with Deisseroth, an honorary doctor at Lund University, for a long time. He judges the technique to have "great potential" against epilepsy seizures, but notes that it works in mice and rats and has not yet been tested in humans. For Parkinson's and depression, "it will take time"; current clinical trials are targeting vision.
On Sveriges Radio, psychiatrist Anders Hansen mentions possible treatments for depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, while noting that it is still unknown where the technique will lead exactly. The Local, in English, remains factual: a useful method for understanding learning, fear, addiction, and movement, which "could one day" lead to treatments.
The story finally fits into the Swedish calendar: The Local recalls that the physics prize will be announced on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, and the laureates will receive their distinction from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10.
SOURCES (5)
- Dagens NyheterMEDIUM
- Svenska DagbladetMEDIUM
- ExpressenMEDIUM
- Sveriges RadioMEDIUM
- AftonbladetMEDIUM
