The 2026 Nobel Prize laureates will be announced successively from October 5 to 12. In order to understand the list of hot candidates, The Scientist published scientists' predictions for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry. Notably, among the Nobel Prize predictions this time, five potential candidates mentioned for the Medicine Prize are all closely related to GLP-1 research and related drug development. They are John Eng, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen (formerly at Novo Nordisk), Daniel Drucker, Jens Juul Holst, and Svetlana Mojsov. The specific predictions from interviewees are as follows:

Ubagaramary Dhanasekaran, chemist, Adhiymaan College of Engineering: "I predict the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will go to Emmanuel Mignot and Masashi Yanagisawa, recognizing their discovery of orexin and its central role in sleep-wake regulation. The two have just received the 2026 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, which is a strong indicator for the Nobel Prize." Note: Stanford Medical School sleep researcher Emmanuel Mignot and University of Tsukuba molecular geneticist Masashi Yanagisawa jointly won the 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for research related to the genetic mechanisms of narcolepsy.

Tiago Góss dos Santos, tumor biologist, A.C.Camargo Cancer Center: "I predict Lotte Bjerre Knudsen and John Eng will receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine." Note: John Eng is an endocrinologist who studied a GLP-1-like polypeptide hormone in Gila monster saliva, research that paved the way for the type 2 diabetes drugs widely used today. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen is a pharmaceutical scientist who, during her time at Novo Nordisk, explored the potential of GLP-1 in diabetes and weight management. She is a 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureate.

Karthik Mallilankaraman, cell biologist, University of Arizona: "I predict Carl June will receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine." Note: Carl June is an immunologist and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania, known for developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for cancer treatment.

Neharika Saxena, veterinary public health scientist, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences: "Hari Mohan Saxena from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University should receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He developed a bacteriophage lysate-based immunotherapy for bovine brucellosis (the second most important zoonotic disease), and used pathogen RNA as a biomarker to achieve non-invasive monitoring and evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy. This achievement may completely transform the development of new antimicrobial drugs to combat antibiotic-resistant infections."

Arijit Ghosh, consultant, Fitness Fortitude: "For the Nobel Prize in Physics, my predicted candidate is John Pendry, a condensed matter physicist at Imperial College London, recognizing his research in metamaterials and related fields such as invisibility cloaks. He has long been a hot candidate for the Nobel Prize. Another possible direction is foundational achievements in modern optics or quantum sensing. As for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, I favor University of British Columbia biochemist Pieter Cullis and his team, recognizing lipid nanoparticle delivery technology, which is precisely the technology that made mRNA vaccines possible."

Luís Ferreira Moita, immunologist, University of Lisbon: "The following are my key predictions for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: James Fujimoto, David Huang, and Eric Swanson, recognizing the development of optical coherence tomography. Svetlana Mojsov, Jens Juul Holst, and Daniel Drucker: recognizing the 'discovery and development of GLP-1-based drugs, which have completely revolutionized the treatment of obesity.' Max Cooper and Jacques Miller, recognizing their discovery of two distinctly different types of lymphocytes: B cells and T cells. David Liu, recognizing his pioneering work in gene editing." Note: MIT electrical engineer James Fujimoto, Oregon Health & Science University ophthalmology and biomedical engineer David Huang, and MIT electrical engineer Eric Swanson received the 2023 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. University of Toronto endocrinologist Daniel Drucker, University of Copenhagen physiologist Jens Juul Holst, and Rockefeller University chemist Svetlana Mojsov are 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureates. Emory University School of Medicine immunologist Max Cooper and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research emeritus professor Jacques Miller received the 2019 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. Harvard University biochemist David Liu is a 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureate.