David Julius is an American physiologist who recently won the Nobel Prize for his research on the molecular mechanism of pain sensation and heat. His work also included the characterization of the TRPV1 and TRPM8 receptors capable of detecting menthol, capsaicin, and temperature.
Julius is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco works on understanding how sensory systems allow humans to perceive our world. His award-winning work exploits the capabilities of natural products to elucidate molecular mechanisms of touch and pain sensation. Let’s learn more about his past life and what encouraged him to take the road for his award-winning research.
Julius’ past life and research
David Julius took birth in 1955 in Brooklyn, New York, and is of Russian Jewish descent. He received his undergraduate degree from MIT in 1977, and for his doctorate, he went to the University of California, Berkley in 1984. There he worked under the supervision of Jeremy Thorner and Randy Schekman.
He finished his post-doctoral training with Richard Axel at Columbia University where he was able to clone and characterize the serotonin 1c receptor.
David Julius’ award-winning research
In 1997, Julius’s lab was able to clone and characterize TRPV1, which is the receptor that can detect capsaicin, the chemical found in chili peppers that make them spicy. His colleagues found that TRPV1 can also detect noxious heat.
TRPV1 belongs to a big family o structurally related transient receptor potential (also referred to as TRP) cation channels. Animals that do not have TRPV1 lose sensitivity to noxious heat and capsaicin. His lab also managed to clone and characterize TRPM8 and TRPA1. Both of them also belong to the TRP family.
They showcased that TRPM8 can detect menthol and cooler temperature and TRPA1 can detect mustard oil. These observations hinted that TRP channels are capable of detecting a range of temperatures and chemicals.
Julius’ lab also helped in the study of nociception by discovering toxins that modulate these channels, describing unique adaptations of the channels in several species, and cracking the cryo-EM structures of many channels.
Awards and honors
David Julius also received the 2010 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine and the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. This year, he won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside Ardem Patapoutian.
In 2017, Julius was awarded the Gairdner Foundation International Award and the HFSP Nakasone Award. He also received the 2010 Prince of Asturias Prize for Technical and Scientific Research. And, in 2020, he was recognized for his work and awarded the 2020 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience alongside Ardem Patapoutian.
