Nobel Prize in Medicine 2021

• 06 Oct 2021

• Two U.S.-based scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on October 4 for their discovery of the receptors that allow humans to feel temperature and touch.
• David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian focused their work on the field of somatosensation that is the ability of specialised organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.
• David Julius 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 used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.