India, Oct. 7 -- The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has brought global attention to optogenetics, a technique that allows scientists to control individual brain cells using light. Among the scientific work that helped lay the foundation for the technology is the doctoral research of JNU professor Suneel Kateriya, conducted more than two decades ago in Germany.

The Nobel was awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth of the US and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Their work has transformed neuroscience by allowing researchers to switch selected neurons on and off using pulses of light.

But behind this Nobel-winning story lies an Indian connect...