Georg Nagel receives the Nobel Prize for Medicine and expresses surprise

Georg Nagel accepted the news of this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine on a terrace in Italy. «I'm sitting here on the terrace in the sun, surrounded by olive and lemon trees and it's very beautiful. I can't complain," said the scientist from the University of Würzburg in an interview with the Nobel Prize Outreach organization when asked where he received the news and where he is currently.

Since he retired, the 73-year-old usually spends the cold months in his wife's home region, which comes from Naples. He is currently in the mountains between Naples and Rome. On average, it is ten degrees warmer there than in his home town of Würzburg. In addition, there is no fog and no gray weather.

Nagel: Still too early for an award

Nagel said he was very surprised to receive the coveted prize. "I didn't expect that, really..." He always told his friends who were looking forward to Stockholm before the Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced: "Stay cool. As far as I know, there is only one patient who has benefited from optogenetics so far.”

Optogenetics is not comparable to malaria drugs or checkpoint inhibitors, which are used to combat tumor cells and from which many patients benefit, Nagel added. He thought it was too early to get this prize for medicine.

On Monday, Nagel, together with the American researcher Karl Deisseroth (54) and the German researcher Peter Hegemann (71) from the Humboldt University in Berlin, were awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries in the field of optogenetics.