Thomas Perlmann, the Secretary General of the Nobel Assembly, announced on Monday, October 5, that three researchers named Karl Deisseroth, David Nagel, and Arthur Deisseroth were selected as the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their "discoveries about light-sensitive ion channels and optogenetics." These researchers will share a prize of 12 million kronor, equivalent to about 1.2 million dollars.
Innovative Optogenetic Method and Amazing Discoveries
Perlmann explained that this method allows scientists to turn the activity of individual nerve cells in the brain on or off. This tool is now being used in laboratories around the world to uncover the secrets of the brain. The origins of this achievement date back to Deisseroth's research in the early 1990s. He was investigating how the alga "Chlamydomonas" reacts to light within half a millisecond and hypothesized that a protein both receives light and serves as an ion channel.
Deisseroth controlled the movement of mice's whiskers by activating specific cells in the motor cortex of the brain and was also able to wake sleeping mice with light. These discoveries demonstrate how optogenetics can assist in more precise studies of disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and addiction.
Hope for Treating Brain Diseases and Restoring Vision
Anna Widel, a professor of molecular medicine at Karolinska in Sweden, stated that identifying active cells in animal models of dementia and epilepsy could help researchers identify suitable pathways for treatment in the human brain. One therapeutic application of optogenetics is the effort to restore vision to patients with "retinitis pigmentosa." Per Sundinsson, a professor of neurology at Karolinska, added that this method has so far partially restored vision to some blind patients.
Deisseroth, born in 1971 in Boston, had an interest in science and literature from childhood. He initially pursued neurosurgery but eventually changed his path to psychiatry. Deisseroth also grew up in a family of doctors and had an interest in astronomy and explorers. Nagel, born in southern Germany, underwent multiple surgeries from the age of five due to a severe illness and developed an interest in mathematics, physics, and biology.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine is the first to be announced this year, with winners in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics to be revealed in the coming days.
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