Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 17 hrs ago
Nobel-winning light research also helps scientists study a parasite
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries that led to optogenetics, which uses light-sensitive proteins to control cells.
At BITS Pilani’s Hyderabad campus, professor Nishith Gupta has used related light-based methods to study Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that infects people and other animals.
Gupta’s work grew out of a decades-long collaboration with Hegemann at Humboldt University of Berlin.
Their approach used light to control an enzyme that makes cAMP, a molecule that helps carry signals inside cells.
The researchers found that this signalling helps regulate how the parasite enters cells, moves and leaves them.
Their study was published in 2013.
The Nobel recognition highlights how discoveries about light sensing in algae can also help researchers investigate the brain, infections and how cells work.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has renewed attention to research using light to study biological processes.
Nishith Gupta and Peter Hegemann used light-regulated signalling to investigate the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
Their research showed how light-controlled enzyme activity can affect how the parasite enters, moves through and exits cells.
The study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2013.
- Who
- Nishith Gupta, Peter Hegemann and other researchers.
- What
- They used light-regulated signalling to investigate the biology and infection process of Toxoplasma gondii.
- When
- Their study was published in 2013.
- Where
- The research involved Gupta’s work at BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus and collaboration with Hegemann at Humboldt University of Berlin.
- Why
- To investigate how the parasite enters, moves through and exits cells.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
They found that regardless of which cell they put the protein in, those cells became light sensitive.
Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, an algal protein that responds to blue light.
Karl Deisseroth showed that channelrhodopsin could allow blue light to trigger nerve signals in rat neurons.
Deisseroth showed light-based control in mice.
Gupta, Hegemann and others published their study of light-regulated signalling in Toxoplasma gondii.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.
- Nobel laureates
- Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel
- Parasite studied
- Toxoplasma gondii
- Research institution
- BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus
- Study publication
- Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2013
- Research method
- Light-regulated enzyme adenylate cyclase produces cAMP
Sources
Related news
Researchers map hair-like sensory cells across squid bodies
Bellbird and Seriema Among the Loudest Birds Measured
Survey finds only 83 mature cheetahs across a vast area of South Africa
British Columbia rogue wave was nearly three times taller than nearby waves
Detached sea cucumber tissue remained active for more than three years
New book examines the survival skills of 75 fierce forms of nature
Researchers confirm a new giant waterlily species in Colombia
Air pollution reaches ‘very poor’ levels in towns near Manaus
Young Puerto Rican parrot rescued from invasive boa
Warm, mostly sunny weather forecast across the Netherlands this week
Showers and morning fog forecast in parts of Türkiye
