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Nobel Prize for Medicine 2026
"Outstanding researchers and pioneering inventors"
The groundbreaking invention by this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine laureates, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, was filed with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) in 2002 – DPMA President: This groundbreaking technology offers hope to many people suffering from illness – and is an example of how excellent basic research can also be put to economic use.
Developing new, effective treatments for serious diseases such as Parkinson’s or epilepsy – and possibly even restoring impaired bodily functions such as sight: these are the hopes associated with optogenetics. The two German researchers, Prof. Dr Peter Hegemann and Prof. Dr Georg Nagel, are co-founders of this emerging discipline and are being awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work. “Professor Hegemann and Professor Nagel are not only outstanding scientists, but also pioneering inventors,” emphasises Eva Schewior, President of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. “The two researchers have laid the foundations for a groundbreaking technology that enables enormous medical progress and gives hope to many people suffering from illness. Through their patent applications, they have also demonstrated how excellent basic research can be transformed into commercially viable technologies.”
Optogenetics makes it possible to selectively control specific cells, such as nerve cells, using light. The first step involves introducing the genetic blueprint for a light-sensitive protein derived from green algae into the cells. Once the protein has been produced within the cells, the cells can, so to speak, be switched on or off using light. For example, nerve cells can be selectively activated, thereby transmitting a nerve impulse. Optogenetics has therefore become an important tool for gaining a better understanding of how the brain and other complex biological systems function. Initial approaches for medical applications are already being investigated in clinical trials.
Patent applications with the DPMA as the foundation for success
Peter Hegemann teaches at Humboldt University in Berlin
Peter Hegemann is a professor at Humboldt University of Berlin, whilst Georg Nagel holds a chair at Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg. Hegemann and Nagel published their seminal paper on optogenetics, which attracted worldwide attention, in June 2002 in “Science”, one of the most important journals in the natural sciences. However, they did not do so without first filing a patent application for their new technology: the application DE 102 16 005 A1 (not accessible) [PDF, 2 MB] was received by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office on 11 April 2002. The applicants were the Max Planck Society and Peter Hegemann personally. Hegemann, Nagel and Prof. Dr Ernst Bamberg, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, are listed as the inventors. Numerous subsequent publications cited this seminal application.
Optogenetics has since become an important and promising field for patent applications in the biomedical sector. One of the leading researchers and inventors in this field is the American Karl Deisseroth (Stanford University), who is sharing the Nobel Prize with the two Germans. Prof. Hegemann and Prof. Deisseroth are named jointly as inventors in several patent applications.
Pictures: Niklas Elmehed / Nobel Prize Outreach