Registration opens for a limited numbers of seats on September 23, 2026, at 9am CT.
Dr. David Julius, recipient of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, will discuss how the Julius lab at UC San Francisco has leveraged the power of natural product chemistry and biology to reveal molecules, cells, and signaling pathways that enable us to experience pain.
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He will present these research directions and their relevance toward finding new treatments for chronic pain, together with a discussion about the role that basic, curiosity-driven research plays in our lives.
Virtual Attendance Option
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This program will be presented in-person at The Linda Hall. If you'd prefer to watch this program virtually, please follow this link to register:
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On view at the Library: Alchemy of Knowledge
Explore our free exhibition, Alchemy of Knowledge: Science and Mystery from Shakespeare to AI, now on view at The Linda Hall. Exhibition galleries are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on second Saturdays of each month; and during evenings when the Library hosts public programs.
David Julius, PhD, is professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. A native of New York City, he received his undergraduate degree from MIT, where he worked with Alexander Rich studying mechanisms of tRNA aminoacylation. He then moved to UC Berkeley for graduate studies with Jeremy Thorner and Randy Schekman, elucidating mechanisms of peptide hormone processing and secretion in yeast, followed by postdoctoral studies with Richard Axel at Columbia University, where he identified genes encoding members of the serotonin receptor family.
At UC San Francisco, Dr. Julius' research is focused on understanding molecular mechanisms of pain and sensory adaptation. The Julius group has exploited the properties of natural products to discover a family of thermo- and chemo-sensitive ion channels that enable sensory nerve fibers to detect hot or cold temperatures and other noxious stimuli. With the aid of genetic, electrophysiological, and behavioral methods, they have determined how these ion channels contribute to pain sensation, and how channel activity is modulated in response to tumor growth, infection, or other forms of injury that produce inflammation and pain hypersensitivity.
David has served as a member of the NINDS / NIH Advisory Council (2014 – 2017), the HHMI Board of Trustees (2021- present), and as Editor of the Annual Review of Physiology (2007-2018). Among other awards, David has received the Shaw Prize in Life Sciences and Medicine (2010), the Canada Gairdner International Award (2017), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2020), and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2021).
