Hi everyone, we had big news out of Stanford this week: Karl Deisseroth has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to optogenetics, a technique that makes it possible to switch individual nerve cells on or off in the living brain. To celebrate, we're re-releasing a live conversation Russ had with Karl a few years ago. He's both a bioengineer and a practicing psychiatrist, and he tells me how he built a way to control brain cells with light, why the odds were stacked against it, and how it could open the door to better treatments for psychiatric disorders. We also talk about his book Projections and what it takes to turn a long-shot idea into a tool that changes neuroscience. Congratulations, Karl, on an honor so well deserved. Whether this is your first listen or your second, it's one worth hearing.
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Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
Russ Altman introduces Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
(00:04:49) Technology and Discovery
Why Deisseroth sees technology development and basic neuroscience as inseparable.
(00:06:36) What Is Optogenetics?
How light can be used to precisely turn specific cells in the brain on or off.
(00:08:27) Turning an Idea into a Tool
The process that led to optogenetics
(00:10:57) Microbial Opsins
How light-sensitive proteins from microorganisms became the foundation for controlling neurons with light.
(00:14:11) Optogenetics in Humans
How optogenetics has already been used to restore limited vision, and what that suggests for future therapies.
(00:17:37) Psychiatry and the Lab
How Deisseroth’s work with patients shapes the scientific questions his lab pursues.
(00:21:48) The Most Pressing Questions in Neuroscience Today
Why identifying the brain’s many cell types became a central goal of the BRAIN Initiative.
(00:24:28) Correlation vs. Causality
Why understanding which neurons actually drive behavior requires more than simply observing brain activity.
(00:26:52) Controlling Brain Networks
How researchers are beginning to study and manipulate multiple brain regions with precise timing.
(00:28:19) The Need for Neuroscience Theory
Why better technology creates a growing need for theories that can guide which neural circuits to study.
(00:29:38) Writing Projections
Why Deisseroth wrote about the inner worlds of psychiatric patients alongside the science of the brain.
(00:32:59) Capturing Patients’ Inner Worlds
How feedback from people with psychiatric disorders shaped Deisseroth’s view of the book’s impact.
(00:34:26) Conclusion
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