아침에 눈뜨고 이메일 접속하니 올리패스 과학자문단 의장이신 스테판 왁스만 교수님으로부터 다음과 같은 메세지가 도착해 있다.
Read moreBy now most of you will have heard that David Julius won this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine.
In a word, David discovered the molecules in our nerves (TRP receptors) that respond to both to capsaicin in spicy peppers, and to noxious heat (hence, when you eat a spicy pepper, your mouth feels hot). He has gone on to expand the universe of TRP receptors, and to explicate the roles of TRP receptors in multiple types of pain.
This is of course very beautiful and far-reaching work. Hopefully, it will enhance understanding, among potential research subjects, of the potential for targeting key molecules along the pain pathway to mute pain. And, hopefully, it will help to attract a new generation of researchers to molecular neuroscience and, in particular, to pain research.
