David Julius: “We need to restore the faith in science”

One of Nobel Laureate David Julius’ greatest joys is when people in his lab show him exciting data and make their own discoveries, and as a scientist and educator his goal is to bring society back to fact-based thinking.

The mechanisms humans use to detect and process hot and cold and experience pain have not been always clearly understood. Biting into a chili pepper can make your tongue burn and your eyes water, but people still enjoy them. Yet the same compound that makes certain peppers painful, capsaicin, also serves as a pain-reliever.

Work by scientists such as Nobel Prize winner Dr. David Julius, Ph.D., a professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, U.S., has enhanced the understanding of how signals responsible for temperature and pain sensation are transmitted by neural circuits to the brain. He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, Ph.D., a professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, who studied how humans perceive pressure and touch.

Fascination for natural products

During his research, David Julius identified a class of proteins known as TRP (“trip”) ion channels as being critical to the nervous system’s process for alerting to pain. The research is of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industry, which wants to use it to help produce new painkillers.

Julius began investigating pain and sensory biology in the mid-1990s when he started his own lab. Prior to that he had been researching neurotransmitters and molecular pharmacology.

“I have a fascination with natural products and how people discovered the use of plants for medicinal purposes,” he says. “I was interested in neurotransmitters, and I got really interested in natural products and how they interact with receptors in the nervous system. Some of the natural products that we were most intrigued by tie in with pain.”

“You look at nature – you look at people – and wonder what makes these plants so attractive to people. Then you look at evolution – nature put these tools of discovery in front of you.”

“You look at nature – you look at people – and wonder what makes these plants so attractive to people,” he adds. “Then you look at evolution – nature put these tools of discovery in front of you.”

There are two ways to employ those findings. “Activation of the capsaicin receptor can desensitize the nerve pathway as a strategy for pain treatment, or one can block the capsaicin receptor to diminish inflammatory pain. Both therapeutic strategies are being explored by a number of groups,” describes Julius.

One of the biggest surprises of his research, says Julius, was that the same receptors for natural products are actually the ones that sense heat and cold.

“It makes sense in hindsight. It is also beautiful,” he says.

David Julius receiving his Nobel Prize. Photo: Paul Kennedy/Nobel Prize Outreach

Next steps

The next steps in expanding and applying his research include taking these molecules we know and love and asking more about how they work at the atomic level, notes Julius.

“That tells us how the molecule works when it encounters capsaicin, and ultimately how changes in temperatures affect the receptor. Such insights are important when thinking about how drugs might work to modulate the receptor and pain sensation,” he explains.

“For example, we’re focusing on gastrointestinal pain and using models that can tell us what types of cells and molecular targets are involved.”

Discovering how to target various kinds of pain is also part of David Julius’ work. “We want to ask how these molecules participate in different types of pain syndromes,” he continues. “For example, we’re focusing on gastrointestinal pain and using models that can tell us what types of cells and molecular targets are involved.”

Still a kind of shock

Besides doing research, Julius also lectures on pharmacology at the university, which offers graduate programs in the health fields. One of his greatest joys is witnessing people in his lab make their own discoveries.

“It’s best when someone in your group shows you exciting data,” he says. “I like watching people in our lab be successful and have something to work toward.” Julius himself was inspired by his own mentors and people with whom he worked.

Since he is aware of numerous outstanding scientists, Julius says that sometimes it hasn’t sunk in that he has won the Nobel Prize. “There was some element of being totally shocked when I got the telephone call. There are so many great discoveries, and so many deserving scientists, that it is still kind of a shock,” he says.

David Julius. Photo: University of California, San Francisco/PNAS

Decisions based on data – not opinions

One of Julius’ goals now, as a scientist and educator, is to see the public’s faith in science restored. Many Americans continue to question the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and refuse to get vaccinated because they think the vaccines are not safe, based on videos or information they saw on the internet or their political beliefs. Large numbers of people and public officials also dispute the existence of climate change.

“How do we get people back to fact-based thinking? We need to be making decisions based on data and not opinions.”

“COVID-19 and climate change have brought this issue [rejection of science] to the forefront,” states Julius. “How do we get people back to fact-based thinking? We need to be making decisions based on data and not opinions.”

Vaccines, he notes, are among the most significant discoveries of all time. “Most of us will never develop therapies that are as impactful worldwide,” Julius continues. “They are one of the great developments in modern medicine. I’m not sure how we change the views on that. All of us need to learn to make decisions based on facts and data.”

Some of the misinformation, he adds, comes from the greed and self-interest of some individuals. “We have to get back to a place where we trust scientists, doctors and engineers,” Julius emphasizes.

Among the long-term and ongoing solutions to this skepticism is public engagement, he believes. “Public funding of education and science are critical to society. For continued advancements, we need to support publicly-funded research and curiosity-based science.”

David Julius. Photo: University of California, San Francisco/PNAS

Facts David Julius

Title: Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco
Age: 66
Place of birth: Brooklyn, NY
Nationality: American
Education: PhD, biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley, B.S., life sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Family: Married, one son. “My wife also is a scientist, we help each other out.”
Other interests: Julius is on the board of the Diablo Regional Arts Center and enjoys helping out there. Its roles include bringing art into local schools. Also, “Music. I like jazz in particular, and I play the trumpet poorly. I also enjoy the environment, live theater and city culture.”