The call from the Nobel Prize Committee came at 12:27 a.m. Professor Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University did not answer. A few seconds later, the call came through to his wife\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
Deisseroth recalls that the surprise left him unable to speak for about 30 seconds. The first person he told about his victory was his mother, but becoming a Nobel laureate did not change his morning routine \u2014 as usual, he got up at dawn and began making sandwiches for his children.<\/p>\n
Colleagues describe him as a modest, free-spirited person who often comes to the lab wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Yet behind this simplicity lies an insatiable intellectual passion. That morning, even as journalists\u2019 calls kept coming in at home, he was drinking coffee from a mug that read: \u201cI drink and I know things\u201d \u2014 a quote from the TV series Game of Thrones<\/em>.<\/p>\n Deisseroth is one of the leading figures in modern neuroscience. Since 2004, he has worked on an idea that revolutionized science: optogenetics. Explaining the complex process in language a 10-year-old could understand, as the scientist himself does, he says: \u201cWe can use light to turn brain cells on or off. To do this, we use tiny molecules that we obtained from single-celled organisms \u2014 algae. It is like understanding a system by \u2018shaking it up\u2019 \u2014 with optogenetics, we perturb the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n Deisseroth is also a practicing psychiatrist who treats patients with severe, treatment-resistant depression and autism spectrum disorder. Optogenetics has opened entirely new perspectives for understanding the causes of such conditions \u2014 including Parkinson\u2019s disease, schizophrenia and anxiety \u2014 and for developing new approaches to treatment.<\/p>\n Interestingly, outside science, Deisseroth\u2019s first love was writing and literature. Even as a child, he was fascinated by how words could evoke emotions in the human brain. In 2021, he published Projections: A Story of Human Emotions<\/em>, in which he draws on his experience working with patients and presents it in literary language. The book has been translated into more than 15 languages.<\/p>\n Asked how he plans to celebrate receiving the Nobel Prize, the scientist behind one of the world\u2019s greatest achievements, who describes the brain as \u201cthe most complicated object in the universe,\u201d gives a brief answer: \u201cI\u2019ll get back to work. We still have a lot to discover and a lot of people to help.\u201d<\/p>\n