World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

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Chemistry

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Research.com Recognitions

  • 2021 - Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Lasker Foundation
  • 2019 - Warren Alpert Foundation Prize For the development of optogenetics as a way to control the activity of specific circuits in the nervous system, to determine their function and ultimately to control them to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders.
  • 2018 - Canada Gairdner International Award
  • 2013 - The Brain Prize, Lundbeck Foundation For their invention and refinement of optogenetics. This revolutionary technique allows genetically specified populations of neurons to be turned on or off with light, offering not only the ability to elucidate the characteristics of normal and abnormal neural circuitry but also new approaches to treatment of brain disorders
  • 2012 - German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Biochemistry and Biophysics
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)

Overview

Peter Hegemann is affiliated with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Germany. Their research primarily focuses on neuroscience and biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, with strong emphases on cellular and molecular neuroscience and molecular biology. Their work spans multiple subfields including cognitive neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and plant science.

The primary topics addressed in Hegemann's research include:

  • Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
  • Photosynthetic processes and mechanisms
  • Neuroscience and neuropharmacology research
  • Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Retinal development and disorders
  • Molecular communication and nanonetworks
  • Neuroscience and neural engineering

Hegemann has published extensively in venues such as:

  • Nature Communications
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • eLife
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Among recent notable publications are:

  • "Optogenetics for light control of biological systems" (2022, Nature Reviews Methods Primers)
  • "BiPOLES is an optogenetic tool developed for bidirectional dual-color control of neurons" (2021, Nature Communications)
  • "NeoR, a near-infrared absorbing rhodopsin" (2020, Nature Communications)
  • "Lateral Gene Transfer of Anion-Conducting Channelrhodopsins between Green Algae and Giant Viruses" (2020, Current Biology)
  • "WiChR, a highly potassium-selective channelrhodopsin for low-light one- and two-photon inhibition of excitable cells" (2022, Science Advances)

Hegemann frequently collaborates with several researchers, including:

  • Johannes Vierock
  • Matthias Broser
  • Simon Kelterborn
  • John T. M. Kennis
  • Johannes Oppermann

Their work on optogenetics and related fields has been recognized with several awards:

  • Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, 2021
  • Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, 2019, for development of optogenetics for neural circuit control and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders
  • Canada Gairdner International Award, 2018
  • The Brain Prize, Lundbeck Foundation, 2013, honoring invention and refinement of optogenetics enabling control of neuronal populations with light
  • Membership in the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina for Biochemistry and Biophysics, 2012
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)

Best Publications

  • Channelrhodopsin-2, a directly light-gated cation-selective membrane channel.

    Georg Nagel;Tanjef Szellas;Wolfram Huhn;Suneel Kateriya

  • Neocortical excitation/inhibition balance in information processing and social dysfunction

    Ofer Yizhar;Ofer Yizhar;Lief E. Fenno;Matthias Prigge;Franziska Schneider

  • Channelrhodopsin-1: a light-gated proton channel in green algae.

    Georg Nagel;Doris Ollig;Markus Fuhrmann;Suneel Kateriya

  • Microbial and animal rhodopsins: structures, functions, and molecular mechanisms.

    Oliver P. Ernst;David Thomas Lodowski;Marcus Elstner;Peter Hegemann

  • Ultrafast optogenetic control

    Lisa A Gunaydin;Ofer Yizhar;André Berndt;Vikaas S Sohal

  • Genetically encoded calcium indicators for multi-color neural activity imaging and combination with optogenetics.

    Jasper Akerboom;Nicole Carreras Calderón;Nicole Carreras Calderón;Nicole Carreras Calderón;Lin Tian;Lin Tian;Sebastian Wabnig

  • Bi-stable neural state switches.

    André Berndt;Ofer Yizhar;Lisa A Gunaydin;Peter Hegemann

  • Red-shifted optogenetic excitation: a tool for fast neural control derived from Volvox carteri

    Feng Zhang;Matthias Prigge;Florent Beyrière;Satoshi P Tsunoda

  • Fast noninvasive activation and inhibition of neural and network activity by vertebrate rhodopsin and green algae channelrhodopsin.

    Xiang Li;Davina V. Gutierrez;M. Gartz Hanson;Jing Han

  • The Microbial Opsin Family of Optogenetic Tools

    Feng Zhang;Johannes Vierock;Ofer Yizhar;Lief E. Fenno

  • Crystal structure of the channelrhodopsin light-gated cation channel

    Hideaki E. Kato;Feng Zhang;Ofer Yizhar;Charu Ramakrishnan

  • High-efficiency channelrhodopsins for fast neuronal stimulation at low light levels

    André Berndt;Philipp Schoenenberger;Joanna Mattis;Kay M. Tye

  • Optogenetics for light control of biological systems

    Unknown

  • Light-modulation of cellular cAMP by a small bacterial photoactivated adenylyl cyclase, bPAC, of the soil bacterium beggiatoa

    Manuela Stierl;Patrick Stumpf;Daniel Udwari;Ronnie Gueta

  • A synthetic gene coding for the green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a versatile reporter in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

    Markus Fuhrmann;Wolfgang Oertel;Peter Hegemann

  • Active cortical dendrites modulate perception.

    Naoya Takahashi;Thomas G. Oertner;Peter Hegemann;Matthew E. Larkum

  • A Streptomyces rimosus aphVIII gene coding for a new type phosphotransferase provides stable antibiotic resistance to Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

    Irina Sizova;Markus Fuhrmann;Peter Hegemann

  • Conversion of Channelrhodopsin into a Light-Gated Chloride Channel

    Jonas Wietek;J. Simon Wiegert;Nona Adeishvili;Franziska Schneider

  • Genome of Acanthamoeba castellanii highlights extensive lateral gene transfer and early evolution of tyrosine kinase signaling

    Michael John Clarke;Amanda J Lohan;Bernard Liu;Ilias Lagkouvardos

  • Crystal Structures and Molecular Mechanism of a Light-Induced Signaling Switch: The Phot-LOV1 Domain from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

    Roman Fedorov;Ilme Schlichting;Elisabeth Hartmann;Tatjana Domratcheva

  • Rhodopsin-regulated calcium currents in Chlamydomonas

    Hartmann Harz;Peter Hegemann

Frequent Co-Authors

Alfons Penzkofer
Alfons Penzkofer University of Regensburg
Karl Deisseroth
Karl Deisseroth Stanford University
Ernst Bamberg
Ernst Bamberg Max Planck Society
Ofer Yizhar
Ofer Yizhar Weizmann Institute of Science
John T. M. Kennis
John T. M. Kennis Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Dieter Oesterhelt
Dieter Oesterhelt Max Planck Society
Klaus Gerwert
Klaus Gerwert Ruhr University Bochum
Ivo H. M. van Stokkum
Ivo H. M. van Stokkum Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Marcus Elstner
Marcus Elstner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

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