Congratulations to Karl Deisseroth, recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine!
In 2008, three years after Dr. Deisseroth’s first optogenetics report, the W. M. Keck Foundation awarded Stanford $1.5 million to support six principal investigators led by Dr. Deisseroth on Fast Multicolor Control of Biology. The grant helped turn optogenetics into a tool for controlling brain circuits in freely moving animals. The team applied the tools to models of Parkinson’s disease, depression, and other disorders and published 42 peer-reviewed papers.
In 2021, the Foundation again backed Dr. Deisseroth with co-investigator Dr. Zhenan Bao through a $1 million award. Their project builds on genetically targeted chemical assembly, a method that directs specific cells to build functional materials within living organisms. With Keck support, the team improved the precision of polymer assembly on living neurons (Science Advances, 2023).
Both grants reflect the Keck Foundation’s commitment to supporting bold ideas early. The Foundation is proud to have supported awardees of 12 Nobel Prizes.