Discovering Touch: The life and science of Nobel Laureate Ardem Patapoutian, PhD

Scripps Research Professor Ardem Patapoutian, PhD, details his life story and explains the groundbreaking work that led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2021. His research solved a long-standing mystery of how the body senses touch and other mechanical stimuli.
Patapoutian, a professor in the Dorris Neuroscience Center at Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, shares the prize with David Julius, PhD, at the University of California San Francisco for “their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.”
The Nobel Prize committee cited the discoveries by Patapoutian and his colleagues of two ion channels, PIEZO1 and PIEZO2, that are necessary for the cells to respond to mechanical stimuli.
Patapoutian is of Armenian origin and was born in war-torn Lebanon. He left at age 18 hoping he might become a doctor. A research stint as an undergraduate at UCLA changed his trajectory.
Hear his incredible life story in his own words, and the advice he has for young scientists.

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