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After learning he had won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Stanford scientist Karl Deisseroth spoke with journalists through the night. At 6:30 a.m., he asked for a break to make school lunches for his children before they left for school, the Associated Press reported on October 5.
Who is the scientist who made school lunches after winning the Nobel Prize?
He is Karl Deisseroth, a Stanford University professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. The Associated Press reported that he was at his home in Stanford when he learned of the award. His wife, Michelle Monje-Deisseroth, is a Stanford pediatric neuro-oncologist and HHMI investigator.
Deisseroth had been reviewing papers and emailing students before lying down. After the call from Stockholm, he spoke remotely with journalists and well-wishers. The interviews stretched through the night; he requested a break beginning at 6:30 a.m. so he could prepare his children’s school lunches. The AP account does not say what he made.
What did Karl Deisseroth win the Nobel Prize for?
The AP reported that Deisseroth shared the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. It connected their recognized work to optogenetics, a research approach that combines light and genes to control neuronal activity in living brains, and to the study of light-gated ion channels.
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In the AP’s simplified explanation, optogenetics lets researchers use light to influence the activity of targeted neurons. It is a way to investigate how the brain works—not, on the evidence in this report, an established treatment for autism or depression.
Deisseroth described both the potential relevance to patients and the basic-science questions that motivate him. “For me, I’m a physician-scientist. I am a psychiatrist. I care about patients and my patients who have autism, who have depression,” he told the AP. He added: “I care about the hope that this brings. But I’m also a basic scientist, and I care about understanding this amazing organ, the brain, and how it works and how it integrates and computes and delivers all the things that make us human.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What was Deisseroth’s reaction to the Nobel call?
The news initially left him struggling to speak. “I almost felt as if I’d lost the power of forming words,” he told the AP, “but I recovered after a minute or two.” An hour after the announcement, he said, “No real sleep was achieved.”
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →The lunch break came after that overnight sequence of calls and interviews, not as a separate public event. The NobelPrize.org schedule listed October 5, 2026, as the planned date for the medicine-prize announcement at the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet; the schedule establishes the planned timing and venue, while the recipients and scientific connection described here are as reported by the AP.
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