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The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.

© University of California, San Francisco (left), Scripps Research (middle)

Responding to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Professor David Julius and Professor Ardem Patapoutian, Head of DPAG and President of The Physiological Society, Professor David Paterson said:

“On behalf of The Physiological Society, I am delighted to congratulate Professor Julius and Professor Patapoutian on their Nobel Prize.

“Their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch is a great example of the ground-breaking work of physiologists.

“How we sense the temperature, touch and movement are some of the great questions for humanity. This research sheds light on how we sense and interact with the environment around us.

“This will be vital to develop treatments for chronic pain and other disease conditions.”

In 2022, Professor Julius is due to deliver the postponed 2021 Burdon Sanderson Prize Lecture in honour of the renowned Physiologist, Sir John Burdon-Sanderson, after whom the Cardiac Centre is named.  

Read more about the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021.