This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Research into hormones that regulate appetite is on everybody's lips for the Nobel medicine prize, to be announced on Monday when the 2026 Nobel season kicks off. The winners of the six Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics will be revealed daily from Oct. 5–12.
Monday's medicine prize, to be announced at 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT), could go to research that paved the way for weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, Nobel watchers told AFP. That could include microbiome research, the discovery of the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which regulate satiety and hunger, and research into "glucagon-like peptide 1" (GLP-1). This hormone is released by the intestine after we eat and signals satiety.
Drugs like Ozempic mimic it. "A Nobel Prize recognizing any of that work is a likelihood," said David Pendlebury, who heads research analysis at data analytics firm Clarivate, which predicts potential Nobel winners based on the number of citations of their work. "I would put GLP-1 at the top of the list, just because of its enormous worldwide clinical impact," he said.
Many scientists have made significant contributions in the field, though three regularly mentioned for the Nobel are Canadian endocrinologist Daniel Drucker, Danish physician Jens Juul Holst and Yugoslav-born American chemist Svetlana Mojsov. If the Nobel committee were to go in another direction, stem cell research into how skin regenerates and heals wounds could get the nod, with American cell biologist Elaine Fuchs and her British colleague Fiona Watt recognized as leaders in the field, according to Annika Ostman, science reporter at Swedish public broadcaster SR. The honor could also go to a new imaging technique called optical coherence tomography.
The noninvasive technique uses reflected light to create high-resolution, cross-sectional images of biological tissues, particularly the retina and optic nerve, allowing doctors to detect and monitor disease. Yet another field that may have caught the medicine committee's eye is that of adhesion receptors in the immune system, identified by U.S. immunologist Timothy Springer. These receptors are molecular grips on immune cells that help them stick to blood vessels, enter tissues and reach infections.
They are crucial for directing the body's immune defenses and are targets for research into treatments for several inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Research into breast cancer or DNA sequencing that helped combat coronavirus could also be honored. The medicine prize will be followed by the prizes for physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday.
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