Prof. Ardem Patapoutian

May the Force be with you! Piezo channels in mechanosensory biology

Speaker: Prof. Ardem Patapoutian
Institution: Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA

Place: Jerónimo Forteza conference room, CIPF

Abstract: Our ability to sense heat, cold and touch is essential for survival and underpins our interaction with the world around us. In the early 2000s, Ardem Patapoutian investigated how pressure is translated into nerve impulses. He used cells that gave off a measurable electric signal when they were poked and assumed that the cause was a receptor, an ion channel, on the cell membrane. After having identified 72 candidate genes encoding possible receptors these were silenced one at a time. The pressure-sensitive ion channel was then found.

Source: MLA style: Ardem Patapoutian – Facts – 2021. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2026. Thu. 4 Jun 2026. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/patapoutian/facts/