As part of the scientific day of the ED Biose, Dr Bertrand Coste (CNRS, Marseille) will give a lecture on the theme of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 2021, entitled "Mechanosensation of the somatosensory system".
Mechanosensation" defines our ability to perceive touch, pain of mechanical origin and proprioception, the sense of body position and movement. It is performed by the somatosensory system, and participates in our perception of the environment and our social interactions.
Mechanosensitivity is made possible by mechanical transduction, i.e. the signaling by which external mechanical stimuli are converted into biological signals within the cell. The molecular mechanotransducers of the somatosensory system are mechanosensitive ion channels, the identification of which is one of the most important challenges in the field of sensory transduction.
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian highlighted the mechanosensitive channels of the PIEZO family that are the mechanotransducers involved in touch and proprioception. I will present the data acquired on PIEZO channels since their identification in 2010, from their molecular structure to their involvement in various physio-pathological functions.