Ardem Patapoutian (Armenian: Արտեմ Փաթափութեան; born 1967) is a Lebanese-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate of Armenian background. He is known for his work in characterizing the PIEZO1, PIEZO2, and TRPM8 receptors that detect pressure, menthol, and temperature. Patapoutian is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2021 jointly with David Julius.^[1]

Education

Patapoutian was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He attended the American University of Beirut before emigrating to the United States in 1986. He received a bachelor's degree in cell and developmental biology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1990 and a Ph.D. in biology from the California Institute of Technology in 1996. As a postdoctoral fellow, Patapoutian worked with Louis F. Reichardt at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2000, he became an assistant professor at the Scripps Research Institute. Between 2000 and 2014 he had an additional research position for the Novartis Research Foundation. Since 2014 Patapoutian has been an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).^[2]

Research and career

Patapoutian's research is into the biological receptors for temperature and touch (nociception).^[1] The knowledge is used to develop treatments for a range of diseases, including chronic pain.^[3] The discoveries made it possible to understand how heat, cold and mechanical forces trigger nerve impulses.^[3] He researches the signal transduction of sensors. To find the molecular basis for touch, Patapoutian and his collaborators inactivated genes until they identified the single one that, when disabled, made the cells insensitive.^[4] The channel integral to the sense of touch became known as Piezo1, after the Greek word for pressure.^[4] He made significant contributions to the identification of novel ion channels and receptors that are activated by temperature, mechanical forces or increased cell volume. Patapoutian and co-workers were able to show that these ion channels play an outstanding role in the sensation of temperature, in the sensation of touch, in proprioception, in the sensation of pain and in the regulation of vascular tone. More recent work uses functional genomics techniques to identify and characterize mechanosensitive ion channels (mechanotransduction).^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Awards and honors

According to Google Scholar, Patapoutian has an h-index of 68,^[10] according to the Scopus one of 63^[11] (as of May 2020). He has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2016, a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2017 ^[12] and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2020.^[13] In 2017 Patapoutian received the W. Alden Spencer Award,^[14] in 2019 the Rosenstiel Award,^[15] in 2020 the Kavli Prize for Neuroscience^[16] and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology / Biomedicine.^[17]

In 2021 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with David Julius for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.^[1]

Selected publications

• Syeda, Ruhma; Qiu, Zhaozhu; Dubin, Adrienne E.; Murthy, Swetha E.; Florendo, Maria N.; Mason, Daniel E.; Mathur, Jayanti; Cahalan, Stuart M.; Peters, Eric C.; Montal, Mauricio; Patapoutian, Ardem (2016-01-28). "LRRC8 Proteins Form Volume-Regulated Anion Channels that Sense Ionic Strength". Cell. 164 (3): 499–511. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.031. ISSN 1097-4172. PMC 4733249. PMID 26824658.
• Ranade, Sanjeev S.; Woo, Seung-Hyun; Dubin, Adrienne E.; Moshourab, Rabih A.; Wetzel, Christiane; Petrus, Matt; Mathur, Jayanti; Bégay, Valérie; Coste, Bertrand; Mainquist, James; Wilson, A. J. (December 2014). "Piezo2 is the major transducer of mechanical forces for touch sensation in mice". Nature. 516 (7529): 121–125. doi:10.1038/nature13980. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4380172. PMID 25471886.
• Qiu, Zhaozhu; Dubin, Adrienne E.; Mathur, Jayanti; Tu, Buu; Reddy, Kritika; Miraglia, Loren J.; Reinhardt, Jürgen; Orth, Anthony P.; Patapoutian, Ardem (2014). "SWELL1, a Plasma Membrane Protein, Is an Essential Component of Volume-Regulated Anion Channel". Cell. 157 (2). Elsevier BV: 447–458. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.024. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 4023864. PMID 24725410.
• Woo, Seung-Hyun; Ranade, Sanjeev; Weyer, Andy D.; Dubin, Adrienne E.; Baba, Yoshichika; Qiu, Zhaozhu; Petrus, Matt; Miyamoto, Takashi; Reddy, Kritika; Lumpkin, Ellen A.; Stucky, Cheryl L.; Patapoutian, Ardem (6 April 2014). "Piezo2 is required for Merkel-cell mechanotransduction". Nature. 509 (7502). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 622–626. doi:10.1038/nature13251. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 4039622. PMID 24717433.
• Coste, Bertrand; Xiao, Bailong; Santos, Jose S.; Syeda, Ruhma; Grandl, Jörg; Spencer, Kathryn S.; Kim, Sung Eun; Schmidt, Manuela; Mathur, Jayanti; Dubin, Adrienne E.; Montal, Mauricio; Patapoutian, Ardem (19 February 2012). "Piezo proteins are pore-forming subunits of mechanically activated channels". Nature. 483 (7388). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 176–181. doi:10.1038/nature10812. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 3297710. PMID 22343900.
• Kim, Sung Eun; Coste, Bertrand; Chadha, Abhishek; Cook, Boaz; Patapoutian, Ardem (19 February 2012). "The role of Drosophila Piezo in mechanical nociception". Nature. 483 (7388). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 209–212. doi:10.1038/nature10801. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 3297676. PMID 22343891.
• Coste, B.; Mathur, J.; Schmidt, M.; Earley, T. J.; Ranade, S.; Petrus, M. J.; Dubin, A. E.; Patapoutian, A. (2 September 2010). "Piezo1 and Piezo2 Are Essential Components of Distinct Mechanically Activated Cation Channels". Science. 330 (6000). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): 55–60. doi:10.1126/science.1193270. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 3062430. PMID 20813920.