DOMINANT ANGLE
Bern notes that this Nobel Prize highlights the long journey of basic research, from algae to neurons, and slips in a local reference: two of the laureates had already been distinguished by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The Nobel Committee rewards Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel "for their discoveries concerning light-activated ion channels and optogenetics" (Le Temps).
- 02
Hegemann and Nagel had received the Louis-Jeantet Foundation's Prize for promotion of European biomedical research in 2013 (Le Temps).
- 03
Endowment of twelve million Swedish crowns, equivalent to about one million francs, increased by one million for the 125th anniversary of the prize (SRF).
ANALYSIS
Berne, October 6, 2026. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine opens the week of the Nobels: the committee meeting in Stockholm on Monday, October 5, awarded it to American Karl Deisseroth, a professor at Stanford, and Germans Peter Hegemann, from the University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, from the University of Wurtzbourg. The committee rewards them "for their discoveries concerning light-activated ion channels and optogenetics".
The Swiss press first emphasizes the mechanism. SRF explains that optogenetics makes it possible to turn cells on or off, most often neurons, using light, including in living tissues and in freely moving animals. Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsine, a protein that makes cells sensitive to light; Deisseroth introduced its gene into rat neurons, which he was thus able to activate with light.
The Temps gives the floor to Abdel El Manira, a member of the Nobel Committee: observing brain activity is not enough to understand how "ninety billion neurons" produce a behavior or a memory, it is necessary "to establish cause-and-effect relationships". According to the committee, the tool has already been used to identify neural circuits of pain, social behaviors, thirst, food, and reward.
The Geneva daily adds a national reference point: Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel had received the Louis-Jeantet Foundation's Prize for Encouragement of European Biomedical Research in 2013. Switzerland thus positions itself as an observer who had early on recognized the work of the laureates.
SRF also lingers on the money. The prize is endowed with twelve million Swedish crowns, or approximately one million Swiss francs, at a rate of one-third per laureate. The Nobel Foundation has just increased the endowment by one million crowns for the 125th anniversary of the prize, according to its director Hanna Stjärne, quoted by the channel. SRF finally recalls that the 2025 prize went to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi.
