KAVLI PRIZE in NEUROSCIENCE 2020 the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Has Decided to Award the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for 2020 To

KAVLI PRIZE IN NEUROSCIENCE 2020 The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for 2020 to

DAVID JULIUS University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), US

and

ARDEM PATAPOUTIAN Scripps Research, La Jolla, US

“for their transformative discovery of receptors for temperature and pressure”

The 2020 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience is encoding the first temperature sensor, ture and pain sensation. TRPV1 and awarded to David Julius and Ardem Pata- the ion channel TRPV1. Julius further dis- related channels are now targets for poutian for their transformative discovery covered that TRPV1 is activated by high development of new analgesic drugs. of receptors for temperature and temperature, high concentrations of pro- pressure. tons found in ischemic tissues and chem- Ardem Patapoutian discovered a family ical compounds generated during of pressure-sensitive ion channels, the While neural mechanisms for sensing inflammation, thus providing a molecular Piezos that are highly conserved through- chemicals in olfaction and light in vision integrator for both temperature sensing out the animal kingdom. Piezos were have been described, a molecular basis and inflammatory signals. Genetic experi- soon confirmed by Patapoutian to be for how temperature and pressure are ments then showed that mutant mice essential for pressure sensing in mam- detected and encoded into electrical sig- deficient in TRPV1 have a deficit in heat mals. His work further showed that nals has been lacking. The two Kavli Prize sensitivity and a marked reduction in Piezos form pressure-sensing channels laureates, Julius and Patapoutian, discov- inflammatory and cancer pain. This dis- and that they are directly responsible for ered receptors for temperature and covery led to the identification of a family pressure sensing in skin by Merkel cells, pressure, two critical physical features of of channels involved in sensing specific proprioreceptors and touch sensory ter- the environment. These findings revolu- ranges of warm and cold temperatures minals. Piezos also act to sense pressure tionized the field of neuroscience by pro- and irritants, some of which are mutated by nerve terminals in blood vessels and viding a molecular and neural basis for in familial pain syndromes. In other in the lungs and affect red blood cell vol- thermosensation and mechanosensation. experiments, Julius and collaborators ume, vascular physiology and underlie a identified these channels as infra-red broad range of human genetic disorders. David Julius used capsaicin, the com- sensors in vampire bats and snakes, and The discovery of the Piezos opened the pound in chili pepper that elicits the sen- as targets of spider and scorpion toxins, door to understanding mechanobiology sation of heat, to identify the gene further validating their roles in tempera- in health and disease. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Drammensveien 78, 0271 Oslo, Norway Phone +47 22 84 15 00 www.dnva.no