The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announced today that HHMI Trustee David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco, and HHMI Investigator Ardem Patapoutian of Scripps Research are the recipients of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
Summary
Julius, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, will join HHMI’s Board of Trustees.
David Julius, PhD, has been elected an HHMI Trustee. Credit: Susan Merrill, UCSF
David Julius, PhD, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has been elected a Trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the largest private biomedical research institution in the United States. His appointment will begin on January 1, 2021.
Julius, a biochemist and molecular physiologist, studies the molecular mechanisms underlying sensations such as heat, cold, and pain. His lab has examined menthol, wasabi, capsaicin (the ingredient that makes chili peppers hot), and other natural products to discover how sensory nerves detect temperature, itch, and other sensations.