The 2021 Nobel for Medicine this year was awarded jointly to and David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, both of the United States, “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.” .
The winners were announced on Monday by Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Committee.
David Julius of the University of California utilised 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, who is with Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Scripps Research, used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
The duo’s research, conducted independently of each other in the late 1990s and 2000s, is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of diseases and conditions, including chronic pain.
The Nobel Committee’s Thomas Perlmann said Julius and Patapoutian had “unlocked one of the secrets of nature,” and that is how we sense and feel our way around in the world. Our sense of touch, how we sense depth, reach out for things, and also how we experience pain.
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In a year when many may have expected the prize to go to at least one of the makers of a COVID-19 vaccine, Perlmann said this was deemed the most important discovery in Physiology or Medicine in 2021. He said he couldn’t say more without “breaking confidentiality.”
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 though blood banks.
The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over 1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. They have been awarded since 1901, with the economics prize first handed out in 1969.
The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.
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