Venue: Centre Broca
This seminar will take place during the Doctoral Research Day, but is open without registration
Ardem Patapoutian
Scripps Research Institute – La Jolla, California
Nobel Prize of Medicine, 2021
Title
May the Force be with you! Piezo channels in mechanosensory biology
Abstract
Mechanotransduction was perhaps the last major sensory modality not understood at the molecular level. Proteins/ion channels that sense mechanical force are postulated to play critical roles in sensing touch/pain (somatosensation), sound (hearing), shear stress (cardiovascular function), etc.; however, the identity of ion channels involved in sensing mechanical force had remained elusive. The Patapoutian lab identified PIEZO1 and PIEZO2, mechanically-activated cation channels that are expressed in many mechanosensitive cell types. Genetic studies established that PIEZO2 is the principal mechanical transducer for touch, proprioception, baroreception, bladder, and lung stretch, and that PIEZO1 mediates blood-flow sensing, which impacts vascular development and iron homeostasis. Clinical investigations have confirmed the importance of these channels in human physiology. Current work in Patapoutian continues to explore the role of mechanosensation and interoception in physiology and disease.