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Stanford neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth told his children he had won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in a family video shared by Stanford. Their excitement and hugs soon gave way to an ordinary school morning: Deisseroth still had sandwiches to make.
How Karl Deisseroth told his children
In Stanford’s account of Nobel morning, Deisseroth shared the news at home with daughters Sophie and Emma and son Hudson. His eldest son, Alexander, came over after hearing from his mother. The video captures the family’s excitement and embraces before the day’s routine resumed. Stanford Report’s account and India Today’s coverage both describe the contrast between the major announcement and the children’s school-morning routine.
Who won the 2026 Medicine Nobel?
Deisseroth shared the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. The award recognized discoveries leading to optogenetics, a technique that lets researchers switch the activity of selected nerve cells on or off using light, according to Stanford.
What optogenetics does
Optogenetics combines light with light-sensitive proteins called opsins. Deisseroth helped develop a way to place microbial opsins in mammalian brain cells, then use light to control selected cells. That gives researchers a way to examine how particular cells and circuits contribute to brain functions and behavior.
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Earlier methods such as electrical stimulation or drugs can affect broader groups of cells, making it harder to isolate the role of a specific circuit. Stanford describes optogenetics as a research tool for investigating the brain—not as an established, routinely available treatment for people. Potential applications to neurological and psychiatric disorders remain possibilities for future work.
Deisseroth, Stanford Medicine’s D. H. Chen Professor, called the method “an engine for discovery.” He explained: “We can use light to turn on or off cells in the brain. We do that using small molecules that we get from single-cell organisms.” Stanford University President Jonathan Levin said the laureates’ work had “unlocked new understanding of how the brain works and created new possibilities for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.After the celebration, it was back to school morning
The detail that made the video feel familiar was what came next: Deisseroth prepared school sandwiches for the children. Asked how he would celebrate, he replied: “Get back to work. We have a lot of things still to discover, and a lot of people to help.” He also thanked his family: “Thanks for sticking by me and believing in me.”
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