The Prince of Asturias Foundation
Excerpts from some of the letters in support of the nomination of David Julius, Baruch Minke and Linda Watkins for the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research:
Eric R. Kandel, 2000 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine:
“In the individual contributions of Julius, Minke and Watkins have each discovered separate component mechanisms that together contribute to our current understanding of the senses and pain. These radical new discoveries have completely new strategies for treating persistent or chronic pain syndromes. (…)
In summary, these three novel contributions have completely altered our view of pain sensation. I therefore strongly and enthusiastically support the joint nomination of David Julius, Baruch Minke and Linda Watkins for the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research and consider them outstanding candidates”.
Erwing Neher, 1991 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine:
“Dr. Minke has discovered the first member of a family of ion channels, which turned out to be of exceptional importance for a number of regulatory processes in the human body. David Julius showed that the some of the members of this family actually sense heat, cold and pain. Linda Watkins, finally, uncovered a regulatory network, involving glial cells and opionid receptors, which is essential for the understanding the complex signalling system underlying our pain perception. Together, the three candidates opened a major new chapter in the molecular understanding of sensation in general, and of pain in particular. A number of pharmacological companies are currently in the process of developing new pain relieving drugs on the basis of the discoveries of these scientists.
I consider the prospects of application of this work for the betterment of living conditions for mankind as highly promising”.
Ada E. Yonath, 2009 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry:
“I would like to express my support for awarding the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research to professors David Julius, Baruch Minke and Linda Watkins, who jointly paved the way for deeper understanding of sensory processing including pain. (…)
They have been studied three different systems of receptors and channels in different living systems, namely mammalians, plants and insects and suggested ways to correlate their finding with pain. It is well known that chronic pain is considered to be of the magnitude of epidemic problem that affects the entire society. Hence, their findings are of immense significance. Furthermore, the prospects of the application of their work for the benefit of mankind are highly promising.
To conclude, the combined findings of the three of them, in three different aspects, contributed significantly to our understanding of senses of pain, and consequently their discoveries provide novel strategies for treating persistent pain syndromes”.
Paul Greengard, 2000 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine:
“These scientists have discovered mechanisms that provide a deeper understanding of sensory processing especially in the area of pain. Baruch Minke’s research on phototransduction and vision in fruit flies resulted in his identification and characterization of a new type of ion channel which he designated Transient Receptor Potential (TRP). He discovered the role TRP ion channels play in sensory signalling, revealing that the activation of the enzyme phospholipase C (PLC) plays a central role in the modulation of TRP channel activity. (…)
David Julius is a pioneer in the molecular analysis of nociception and pain. In particular, his identification of temperature-sensitive TRPV 1 ion channels, a subfamily of TRP channels, represents a major breakthrough in the study of thermosensation, nociception and pain. His studies have had a major impact in elucidating pathways that contribute to acute and chronic pain. (…)
The research of Linda Watkins focuses on glia, non-neuronal cells now widely accepted as key players in pathological pain states, such as occur after nerve damage. She discovered that most clinically relevant class of opioids activate glia, causing them to release neuroexcitatory substances that suppress the pain-suppressive effects of opioids; enhance the development of opioid tolerance, dependence and withdrawal; increase the rewards associated with drug abuse; and encourage respiratory depression. (…)
In summary, the discoveries of Baruch Minke, David Julius and Linda Watkins have added significantly to understanding the mechanisms of pain and have presented exciting new strategies for treating persistent or chronic pain syndromes”.
Richard Axel, 2004 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine:
“David Julius’ work is characterized by an elegant series of seminal contributions on both genetics and neuroscience that have profoundly enhanced our understanding of the peripheral mechanisms of pain perception. (…)
In early work David exploited the exquisite sensitivity that we exhibit to capsaicin, the active component in chili peppers to clone a receptor expressed on terminals of nociceptive, sensory neurons. This receptor not only responds to capsaicin, but protons and noxious heat, mediators of pain-related behaviour. This led David to a search of additional members of this receptor gene family, TRP, which respond to cold, noxious chemicals, and tissue injury. Through a series of elegant genetic experiments, he has demonstrated a role for these receptors in the mediation of pain in response to noxious physical and chemical stimuli. His creative and rigorous experimental flow has led to insight of broad basic and clinical significance”.
Roderick MacKinnon, 2003 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry:
Up“David Julius has pioneered the field of somatosensation, and in particular hot and cold sensory perception. His work has very far-reaching medical implications because it provides the first mechanistic understanding of noxious (pain-producing) sensory perception.
He has identified specific transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels as the molecular targets of sensory perception. He first showed that TRPV1 is the target of capsaicin, the active ingredient of hot chili peppers. He next showed that TRPV1 is present on sensory nerve fibers and is activated when temperature is raised above a threshold. Finally, he showed that mice lacking TRPV1 exhibit a reduced sensitivity to noxious heat stimulus. In parallel fashion professor Julius cloned the menthol receptor, TRPM8, and showed that it is responsible for cold temperature sensation”.
