Karl Deisseroth博士因帮助开辟光遗传学而获得今年的诺贝尔生理学或医学奖，光遗传学是脑科学领域，利用光和基因来开关活体大脑中的神经元。这位54岁的斯坦福大学教授和霍华德休斯医学研究所的研究员与德国的研究人员彼得·赫格曼和乔治·内格尔分享了这一奖项。在周一早些时候得知这一荣誉的几个小时后，戴瑟罗斯仍然在斯坦福的家中接听祝贺电话并接受记者采访。
Dr Karl Deisseroth has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for helping open up optogenetics, a field of brain science that uses light and genes to switch neurons on and off in living brains. The 54-year-old Stanford University professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator shared the prize with researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel in Germany. Hours after learning of the honour early on Monday, Deisseroth was still taking congratulatory calls and speaking to journalists from his home in Stanford. But amid the attention, he also asked for a pause for a more ordinary job: making school lunches for his children before they woke up.A self-described night owl, Deisseroth said he often works past midnight. After reviewing papers and emailing his students, he had just gone to lie down when he got the call from the Nobel Assembly in Stockholm. "I almost felt as if I’d lost the power of forming words," he told The Associated Press, adding, "but I recovered after a minute or two." He soon began giving interviews, helped by quick emails with Stanford’s communications staff. "No real sleep was achieved," he said about an hour after the announcement.
但在众人的关注中，他也要求暂停一份更普通的工作：在孩子们醒来前为他们做学校午餐。在审阅完论文并给学生们发完电子邮件后，他刚躺下，就接到了斯德哥尔摩诺贝尔大会的电话。他告诉美联社：“我几乎感觉自己失去了说话的能力，但一两分钟后我就恢复了。“在与斯坦福大学通讯人员的快速电子邮件的帮助下，他很快开始接受采访。“没有真正的睡眠，”他在消息发布后大约一小时说道。当美联社科学记者通过电话和Zoom与他交谈时，美联社的一名摄影师和摄像师前往他位于斯坦福大学的家。摄影师于凌晨3点30分左右到达，看到外面有万圣节装饰品，里面只有一盏灯，在敲门之前，他一度担心自己走错了房子。戴瑟罗斯的妻子米歇尔·蒙杰·戴瑟罗斯博士接了电话，把他带了进来。当她没有为参加庆祝活动的斯坦福大学通讯人员煮咖啡时，她就在诺贝尔奖得主身边。戴瑟罗斯说，他对诺贝尔奖感到惊讶，但他的妻子并不惊讶。在采访中，戴瑟罗斯谈到了他与赫格曼和内格尔一起开展的工作，以及这在实践中可能意味着什么。“对我来说，我是一个物理学家。我是一名精神科医生。
As AP science reporters spoke to him by phone and Zoom, an AP photographer and videographer went to his home in Stanford. The photographer arrived at about 3.30 am, saw Halloween decorations outside and only one light on inside, and briefly worried he had reached the wrong house before knocking on the door. Deisseroth’s wife, Dr Michelle Monje-Deisseroth, answered and brought him in. She was by the Nobel winner’s side when she was not making coffee for Stanford communications staff who had joined the celebration. Deisseroth said he was surprised by the Nobel Prize, but his wife was not. During the interviews, Deisseroth spoke about the work he carried out with Hegemann and Nagel and what it could mean in practice. "For me, I’m a physician-scientist. I am a psychiatrist.
我关心患有自闭症和抑郁症的患者，”他说。“我关心这带来的希望。但我也是一名基础科学家，我关心了解这个令人惊叹的器官--大脑，了解它如何工作，以及它如何集成、计算和提供所有使我们成为人类的东西。“采访结束后，戴瑟罗斯告诉斯坦福大学的工作人员，他需要从早上6点30分开始休息一个小时，因为他的孩子们很快就会起床，需要在上学之前吃午餐。当斯坦福大学的一位代表想知道邻居们是否会介意深夜活动时，莫杰-戴瑟罗斯说他们住在教职员工宿舍里，并补充道：“附近有很多诺贝尔奖得主。“然后，早上我们捕捉到了奖项的规模和家里家庭生活的日常情况。
I care about patients and my patients who have autism, who have depression," he said. "I care about the hope that this brings. But I’m also a basic scientist, and I care about understanding this amazing organ, the brain, and how it works and how it integrates and computes and delivers all the things that make us human." As the interviews ended, Deisseroth told Stanford staff that he needed an hour-long break starting at 6.30 am because his children would soon be up and would need lunches before leaving for school. When a Stanford representative wondered whether neighbours would mind the late-night activity, Monje-Deisseroth said they lived in faculty housing and added, "There are a lot of Nobels in the neighbourhood." The morning, then, captured both the scale of the award and the routine of family life at home.