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From spider venom to peppers, Julius explores all the ways to understand the neuroscience of pain
By
Jason Alvarez
David Julius, PhD, professor and director of the Department of Physiology at UC San Francisco, is the winner of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Julius, 63, received the award "for the discovery of molecules, cells and mechanisms underlying the sensation of pain," according to the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. He is one of four researchers awarded this year's Life Sciences Award.
Silicon Valley pioneer Sergey Brin, Yuri and Julia Milner, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Anne Wojcicki have now founded the Breakthrough Award. The annual award recognizes "achievements in the fields of life sciences, basic physics and mathematics, disciplines that pose the biggest questions and seek the deepest explanations". Each outstanding prize includes a prize of $ 3 million.
As a biochemist and molecular biologist, Julius has made great strides in understanding our ability to detect heat, cold and chemical irritants – a work that has brought new perspectives to scientists who want to better understand and treat disease. pain. One of Julius's drivers is the need for new drugs that can effectively treat pain without the side effects and opioid addictive potential.
"As a scientist, you want to understand the basics," Julius said. "Ultimately, from the therapeutic point of view, the identification of signaling molecules in the pain pathways is relevant for drug design, as they are potential targets for the development of new treatments."
"David Julius' work demonstrates once again that curiosity-driven research on the fundamentals of biology not only raises our understanding of the human condition, but also leads to new discoveries with major implications for medicine, "said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. . "It is a source of pride for all of us at UCSF that David's unique and fundamental work, which has inspired scientists around the world, has been recognized with the Breakthrough Award."
David Julius's work demonstrates once again that curiosity-driven research on the fundamentals of biology not only raises our understanding of the human condition, but also leads to new discoveries with major implications for medicine .
Over several decades of research, Julius has been interested in a class of ion channel proteins called TRP receptors (receptors "trip"), and his work has stimulated intense interest in TRP channels as potential targets for new painkillers.
For example, since joining UCSF's faculty in 1989, Julius and his students and postdoctoral fellows have sought to understand how the chemical compound responsible for the hot spicy heat of peppers – called capsaicin – causes burning sensation when eaten or touched The research led to the detailed characterization of the specific protein responsible, called TRPV1.
TRPV1 is a specialized ion channel located at the end of the sensory nerves, which transmits electrical signals to the brain, where the sensation of heat or pain is generated.
Julius has shown that "hot" peppers are aptly named because TRPV1 is triggered not only by capsaicin, but also by "true" heat above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This ion channel also contributes to hypersensitivity to the heat felt in the injured tissues, such as sunburn on the skin, in which the brain perceives light stimuli as burns.
In recent years, Julius has focused on a better understanding of the structure of TRPV1 and its related molecules, in the hope that this information could facilitate the design of new pain medications. During a scientific tour de force in 2013, he and his colleague from UCSF, Yifan Cheng, PhD, used a technique called cryo-electronic microscopy, or cryoEM, to determine the structure of TRPV1 at a almost atomic scale.
Julius also applied these approaches to identify the molecular source of the ice sensation triggered by mint menthol. Just as heat acts on TRPV1 in the same way as capsaicin, Julius' laboratory discovered that a related channel called TRPM8 can be activated by menthol or cold. A third TRP channel, TRPA1, responds to pungent compounds that give wasabi its punch and also intervenes in inflammatory pain. In 2015, Julius and Cheng used cryo-EM to determine the structure of this "wasabi receptor".
Julius and his colleagues will be honored at the 8th annual Breakthrough Prize Awards ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 3, at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, which will be broadcast live on National Geographic. The awards will be followed by the Breakthrough Prize Symposium to be held on Monday, November 4th. The symposium will take place on UCSF's Mission Bay campus.
Julius, Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine at UCSF, has received numerous awards and honors, including the Canada Gairdner Award, the Shaw Award in Life Sciences and Medicine, the Dr. Paul Janssen for Biomedical Research, the Passano Award. , the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the Scolnick Award from the McGovern Brain Research Institute, the Unilever Science Award and the Klaus Joachim Zülch Neuroscience Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) focuses exclusively on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, advanced science education life and health professions and the excellence of patient care. UCSF Health, UCSF's primary academic medical center, is home to leading specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
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