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10月5日，三位科学家因光遗传学研究获得2026年诺贝尔医学奖。本文从微小藻类讲到大脑研究，再看一项让失明者恢复部分视力的早期试验，理解科学发现与成熟治疗之间的距离。

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On October 5, three scientists won the 2026 Nobel Prize in medicine for work that helps people understand the brain. Karl Deisseroth is American. Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel are German. Their work made it possible to use light to control selected nerve cells. The method is called optogenetics.

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10月5日，三位科学家因帮助人们理解大脑的研究获得了2026年诺贝尔医学奖。卡尔·戴瑟罗斯是美国人，彼得·黑格曼和格奥尔格·纳格尔是德国人。他们的研究使利用光来控制选定神经细胞成为可能。这种方法被称为光遗传学。

The brain contains many cells that send electrical signals to each other. These messages help us move, remember things and feel emotions. However, seeing which cells are active does not always explain what they do. Scientists also need ways to change their activity and observe the result.

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大脑中有许多彼此传递电信号的细胞。这些信息帮助我们运动、记忆事物和感受情绪。不过，看到哪些细胞活跃，并不总能说明它们的作用。科学家还需要能够改变细胞活动并观察结果的方法。

Part of the answer came from tiny green algae that live in water. Hegemann wanted to know how they respond to light. Working with Nagel, he studied a protein that can open a small channel when light reaches it. This allows particles with an electrical charge to cross a cell’s outer surface.

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部分答案来自生活在水中的微小绿藻。黑格曼想知道它们如何对光作出反应。他与纳格尔合作，研究一种在受到光照时能够打开微小通道的蛋白质。这使带电粒子能够穿过细胞的外表面。

Scientists can introduce a gene, a set of instructions inside a cell, into chosen cells so that the cells produce a protein that responds to light. Light can then change their activity. Deisseroth helped turn this idea into a practical tool for studying nerve cells. It gave scientists much greater control over experiments involving the living brain.

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科学家可以把基因——细胞内部的一组指令——导入选定的细胞，使其产生对光作出反应的蛋白质。随后，光就能改变这些细胞的活动。戴瑟罗斯帮助把这个想法变成研究神经细胞的实用工具。这使科学家能够更精确地控制涉及活体大脑的实验。

Imagine trying to understand a large team by watching all its members at once. It would be difficult to know who performs each task. Being able to change the activity of certain members could help reveal their roles. In a similar way, this method helps scientists study how groups of brain cells work.

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想象一下，你试图通过同时观察一个大团队的所有成员来理解这个团队。你很难知道每个人负责什么任务。如果能够改变某些成员的活动，就可能更容易看清他们的作用。类似地，这种方法帮助科学家研究不同脑细胞群如何工作。

There are also possible medical uses. France’s health research institute, Inserm, described an earlier study in its October 5 report. In 2021, an international team reported that one blind man had recovered part of his vision. The approach combined changes to cells in his eye with special glasses that sent light into it.

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它也有潜在的医学用途。法国国家健康与医学研究院Inserm在10月5日的报道中介绍了一项早期研究。2021年，一个国际团队报告称，一名失明男子恢复了部分视力。这种方法既改变了他眼中的细胞，也使用了向眼内投射光线的特殊眼镜。

With those glasses, the man could find, count and touch objects during tests. This was an important early result, but it involved one person and restored only part of his sight. It was not evidence that every form of blindness could be cured. Further research is needed to develop possible treatments.

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戴上这种眼镜后，这名男子能够在测试中找到、数出并触摸物体。这是一个重要的早期成果，但研究只涉及一个人，也只恢复了部分视力。它并不能证明所有类型的失明都可以治愈。开发可能的治疗方法仍需要进一步研究。

For now, optogenetics is mainly a research tool. Its value lies in helping scientists ask more precise questions about the brain. The Nobel Prize honours years of work that connected a small living thing in water with one of medicine’s biggest questions: how does the brain work?

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目前，光遗传学主要还是一种研究工具。它的价值在于帮助科学家提出更精确的大脑研究问题。诺贝尔奖表彰了多年研究：这些工作把水中的微小生命与医学中最大的疑问之一联系了起来——大脑究竟如何工作？

新闻来源

• Reuters：US and German scientists win Nobel medicine prize for work on light and brain
• Associated Press：Nobel medicine prize goes to 3 scientists for shining light on brain activity
• Le Temps：Le Prix Nobel de médecine couronne Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann et Georg Nagel, pionniers de l’optogénétique
• Karolinska Institutet：Shedding light on the brain’s mysteries - the Nobel Prize honours the pioneers of optogenetics
• Inserm：Prix Nobel de médecine 2026 : lumière sur l’optogénétique avec l’Inserm

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