It was divided between scientists Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
The prize was awarded for optogeneticsโa method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells form memories, feelings and behavior in the living brain.
"Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered an amazing proteinโchannelrhodopsinโin a single-celled alga. Karl Deisseroth turned this protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells. The laureates laid the foundations for a new era in neuroscience," the press release says.
Neurons communicate through electrical impulses, and channelrhodopsin can trigger such impulses: under blue light, it opens a channel in the cell membrane through which charged particles rush inside. If the gene for this protein is inserted into neurons of a specific type, they can be switched on through a thin optical fiber with millisecond precision, whiโฆ
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