English Article

Sensing Heat

This year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine — awarded to the researchers, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian from the University of California, San Francisco and Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, respectively — recognises their seminal work in identifying the gene and understanding the mechanism through which our body perceives temperature and pressure.

                            Our ability to sense touch and temperature — particularly noxious temperature — is essential for our survival and determines how we interact with our internal and external environment; chronic pain results when the pain response goes awry. Dr. Julius utilised capsaicin, a key ingredient in hot chilli peppers that induces a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin and the cellular mechanism that responds to uncomfortably hot temperatures.