New Delhi: David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian received the 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
The Nobel Assembly, consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet, has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
“Our ability to sense heat, cold and touch is essential for survival and underpins our interaction with the world around us. In our daily lives we take these sensations for granted, but how are nerve impulses initiated so that temperature and pressure can be perceived? This question has been solved by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates”, the Nobel Assembly said in a release.
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. Ardem Patapoutian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
These breakthrough discoveries launched intense research activities leading to a rapid increase in our understanding of how our nervous system senses heat, cold, and mechanical stimuli. The laureates identified critical missing links in our understanding of the complex interplay between our senses and the environment, it added.
The first of the 2021 Nobel Prizes kicked off the week of announcements of the most coveted award.
Last year’s prize went to three scientists who discovered the liver-ravaging Hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough that led to cures for the deadly disease and tests to keep the scourge from spreading through blood banks.
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