Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to Boston native and 2 other scientists for brain research

The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to a Boston native and two other scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells.

Boston's Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, have carried out research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. They are based at universities in Germany and the United States.

The Nobel committee lauded their work, writing on X that the method "is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain's mysteries."

The Nobel Assembly said Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany.

Deisseroth received his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 1992 after studying biomechanical sciences. Among his previous headline-making achievements: leading a research team at Stanford to make transparent mouse brains. 

Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the medicine committee, said he was able to reach all three winners by phone Monday.

The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobels week.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).

Last year, the prize went to three scientists researching the immune system. Another Massachusetts native, Dr. Drew Weissman, won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2023 for discoveries that led to the development of the mRNA vaccines against COVID.

Monday's medicine prize is followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.

After Friday's peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Oct. 12.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.