Mon 04 October 2021:
On Monday, American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their “discoveries of temperature and touch receptors.”
The announcement was made at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm by Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly and Nobel Committee.
A statement by the assembly said the laureates came up with “breakthrough discoveries” as to how nerve impulses are initiated so that temperature and pressure can be perceived.
“David Julius utilized capsaicin, a pungent compound from chili peppers that induces a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to heat,” said the statement.
It added that “Ardem Patapoutian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.”
The discoveries gave start to intense research activities that led to a rapid increase in the understanding of how the nervous system senses heat, cold, and mechanical stimuli, the statement said.
“The laureates identified critical missing links in our understanding of the complex interplay between our senses and the environment,” it added.
The statement said that Julius and Patapoutian jointly answered “a fundamental unsolved question” as to how temperature and mechanical stimuli are “converted into electrical impulses in the nervous system.
The winners of the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economic sciences should be announced on Oct. 11.
Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice of the United States, as well as Michael Houghton of the United Kingdom, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.”
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