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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Stanford neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth told his children he had won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in a video showing a joyful family moment on an otherwise ordinary school morning. There were hugs and excitement—and then Deisseroth got on with making school lunches.
What happened when Karl Deisseroth told his kids?
In a video shared by Stanford, Deisseroth tells his daughters Sophie and Emma and his son Hudson that he has won the Nobel Prize. His eldest son, Alexander, came over after hearing the news from his mother. The children react with excitement and hugs, while the family’s morning routine carries on around the extraordinary announcement. Stanford Report’s account of the announcement and India Today’s coverage both describe the children’s reaction and the return to school-day preparations.
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Deisseroth still prepared sandwiches for the children. That small detail gives the scene its warmth: a Nobel announcement lands in the middle of the familiar work of getting a family out the door.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWho won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine?
Deisseroth shared the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. Stanford says the award recognized their discoveries leading to optogenetics, a method that lets researchers switch the activity of selected nerve cells on or off in a living brain.
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What is optogenetics?
Optogenetics uses light-sensitive proteins called opsins to control selected nerve cells. Deisseroth and colleagues developed ways to introduce microbial opsins into mammalian brain cells, then use light to influence those cells’ activity. As Deisseroth put it, “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.”
The method gives researchers a way to probe particular cells and circuits in complex systems and examine how their activity relates to behavior and other brain functions. Stanford describes older approaches such as electrical stimulation and drugs as less precise when the goal is to isolate a specific circuit. Deisseroth has called optogenetics “an engine for discovery.”
Optogenetics is a research tool, not an established routine treatment for people. Stanford describes possible future applications in treating neurological and psychiatric disorders, but the Nobel announcement does not establish optogenetics as an approved therapy.
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Asked how he would celebrate, Deisseroth, the D. H. Chen Professor at Stanford Medicine, answered: “Get back to work. We have a lot of things still to discover, and a lot of people to help.” He also thanked those close to him: “Thanks for sticking by me and believing in me.”
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.” For Deisseroth, though, the first scene after the news was not a ceremony: it was sharing the moment with his children, then making their sandwiches.
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