New Delhi, Oct. 7 -- A tiny freshwater alga and an Indian scientist's doctoral research in Germany are part of the scientific journey behind the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In 2001, Suneel Kateriya was working in Professor Peter Hegemann's laboratory in Regensburg, Germany, when he searched the genes of Chlamydomonas, a single-celled alga that can detect and move towards light.

Kateriya identified two light-sensing proteins. The genes were later named channelrhodopsin-1 and channelrhodopsin-2.

More than two decades later, Kateriya is a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), while his work forms part of the scientific foundation behind optogenetics - a technique that allows researchers to control selected cells,...