This is how he announced to the family that he had won the Nobel Prize in medicine

Screams, euphoria, jumps and hugs. This was the reaction of American neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth's family after receiving the news that their father had been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine. “I have exciting news. This morning I received a call to tell me that I have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine,” Deisseroth told his children. Stanford University (California) has shared on social media the video that Deisseroth recorded at the moment of breaking the news to his family.

Karl Deisseroth has been awarded together with two other researchers: Peter Hegemann, from Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, from the University of Würzburg. All three have been distinguished with the prize for having developed optogenetics, a technology that has radically changed the way of studying the brain. For centuries, science has tried to understand how the brain is capable of remembering, having feelings, and reasoning. And, although technologies and methods have been developed that have allowed associating a specific brain area with a specific function, they did not allow demonstrating whether a concrete type of nerve cells were or were not responsible for a feeling or behavior. And that is what optogenetics has made possible.

The most prestigious award in the world, granted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, has recognized this neuroscience technique because it allows controlling specific neurons with light in real time while an animal moves, sleeps, or does some activity. And furthermore, it also opens the door to understanding how memories, feelings, and behaviors are generated.