Switching on brain cells: the Nobel-winning science of optogenetics

Three scientists — Karl Deisseroth of the United States, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel of Germany — won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing optogenetics, a technique using light to control living cells. The breakthrough enables researchers to switch brain cells on and off, with applications in understanding diseases like Alzheimer's and epilepsy. In 2021, a patient with inherited blindness regained partial sight using a gene from green algae injected into his eye; the FDA recently accepted a license application for similar treatment.