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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to three scientists for their research into the mechanisms that enable the brain to switch individual nerve cells on and off.
Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, were recognised for their pioneering work on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control the activity of nerve cells.
Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann works at Humboldt University of Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany.
The Nobel committee praised their work, saying the method is now being used in laboratories around the world to uncover the mysteries of the brain.
Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said he had managed to reach all three laureates by telephone on Monday.
The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, marking the start of Nobel Prize week.
The laureates will share prize money of 12 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to about $1.2 million.
Last year’s medicine prize was awarded to three scientists for discoveries concerning the immune system.
The medicine prize is traditionally followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, while the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on October 12.