On October 5, 2026, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Karl Deisseroth, Georg Nagel and our colleague Prof. Peter Hegemann (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), "for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics". Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein from a single-celled alga. It became the basis of optogenetics, a method that lets researchers switch the activity of individual cells on and off with light.
The entire EC²/BIG-NSE community congratulates Peter Hegemann warmly. He has been a member of UniCat and later UniSysCat throughout all these years and contributed intensively to the success of our doctoral program. Six BIG-NSE alumni completed their PhDs under his supervision.
With Peter as first or sole supervisor:
- Dr. Sara Bruun (now Seiffert) (WS08), researching on resonance Raman spectroscopy of microbial rhodopsins, co-supervised by Prof. Hildebrandt
- Dr. Johannes Vierock (WS12), working on the gating mechanism of channelrhodopsins
- Dr. Arita Silapetere (WS15), researching on the origin of fluorescence and voltage sensitivity in microbial rhodopsin-based voltage sensors
- Dr. Nico Liem (WS19), working on the biophysical characterization of rhodopsin phosphodiesterases from C. flexa, co-supervised by Prof. Hildebrandt
With Peter as second supervisor:
- Dr. Kirstin Hobiger (WS08), working on the intramolecular coupling process in the voltage-sensitive phosphatase Ci-VSP, with Prof. Friedrich as first supervisor
- Dr. Simon-Viktor Ghysbrecht (WS19), researching on enhancement of molecular dynamics simulations, from trajectories to reaction rates, with Prof. Bettina Keller (FU) as first supervisor
BIG-NSE alumnus Dr. David Buhrke (WS15) also worked closely with Peter Hegemann. After his PhD, he collaborated with him as Liebig Fellow and junior project leader at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Beyond his scientific achievements, we remember Peter Hegemann above all for his kindness. Every year between 2008 and 2023, we visited his laboratory with the new BIG-NSE batch, and whenever he was in Berlin, he took the time to present his lab to the students himself. He always seemed happy to welcome us and to show what his group was working on, whether he was talking about rhodopsins in his office, as in the first picture below, or, on one occasion, accompanying us on a short tour of the neighboring facilities, where we took the group picture in front of the statue of a celebrity.
Dear Peter, congratulations on this extraordinary recognition, and thank you for your generous support of our students over the years!
Picture captions:
- BIG-NSE students listening to Peter Hegemann in a lab (Nov. 2010) and his office (Oct. 2021) during the annual lab visit with new BIG-NSE students
- The BIG-NSE WS22 batch with Peter Hegemann in front of the Albrecht Thaer statue at the Institut für Agrar- und Gartenbauwissenschaften of the Humboldt University (Oct. 2021)
- Inspiring posters you could find in Peter's labs (2021/2010)
Copyrights: J.P. Lonjaret
