David Julius, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2021

David J. Julius (born November 4, 1955) is an American physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate known for his work on molecular mechanisms of pain sensation and heat, including the characterization of the TRPV1 and TRPM8 receptors that detect capsaicin, menthol, and temperature. He is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

Julius won the 2010 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine and the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Ardem Patapoutian.

Early life and education

Julius was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He is of Russian Jewish descent.[5] Julius earned his undergraduate degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. He attained his doctorate from University of California, Berkeley in 1984, under joint supervision of Jeremy Thorner and Randy Schekman, where he identified Kex2 as the founding member of furin-like proprotein convertases. In 1989, he completed his post-doctoral training with Richard Axel at Columbia University where he cloned and characterized the serotonin 1c receptor.

Research career

In 1997, the Julius lab cloned and characterized TrpV1 which is the receptor that detects capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them "hot". Remarkably, they found that TrpV1 also detects noxious heat. TrpV1 is part of the large family of structurally related TRP (transient receptor potential) cation channels. Animals that lack TrpV1 (using genetic knockouts of the protein) lose sensitivity to noxious heat and capsaicin.

The Julius lab has also cloned and characterized TrpM8 (CMR1) and TrpA1, both members of the TRP superfamily. They demonstrated that TrpM8 detects menthol and cooler temperatures and TrpA1 detects mustard oil (allyl isothiocyanate). These observations suggested that TRP channels could detect a range of temperatures and chemicals. David Julius's lab has also made important contributions to the study of nociception by discovering toxins that modulate these channels, describing unique adaptations of the channels in diverse species and solving the cryo-EM structures of numerous channels.

Awards

• 2000 - the inaugural Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize for his work on cloning the capsaicin receptor.
• 2010 - the Shaw Prize for his work identifying the ion channels involved in various aspects of nociception.
• 2014 - the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research for discovering the molecular basis for pain and thermosensation.
• 2017 - the Gairdner Foundation International Award.
• 2017 - the HFSP Nakasone Award.
• 2020 - the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
• 2021 - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (jointly with Ardem Patapoutian).