Brussels – Biophysicist Peter Hegemann, whose work has also been supported by European funding, has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside Karl Deisseroth and Georg Nagel. Their work has revolutionised neuroscience, making it possible to control the activity of neurons using light.
“Congratulations to Peter Hegemann, Karl Deisseroth and Georg Nagel. Their discoveries have transformed our ability to study the brain. The European Union is proud to have supported Professor Hegemann,” said Ekaterina Zaharieva, the EU Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation, in a statement.
A lecturer at Humboldt University in Berlin, Hegemann has received significant funding from Horizon Europe. Between 2016 and 2021, he was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant worth €2.4 million for the MERA project, which focuses on the functioning of a light-sensitive protein. He is also participating in the SOL project (2022–2028), funded by an ERC Synergy Grant of nearly 8 million, and contributed to STARDUST (2017–2022), with €3.8 million in EU funding shared amongst 10 participants, for an ultrasound device with potential applications in Parkinson’s disease.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
