4
Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded for receptor research

Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded for receptor research

The Nobel Committee in Stockholm has named the laureates in Medicine — David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian. They discovered how temperature or touch, for example, is transformed into human sensations.

“Tactile and temperature receptors are very important. Without them, a rare organism would have survived in extreme environmental conditions. They are present not only in humans, but also in many animals, even invertebrates. Being in the skin of the entire surface of the body and even in the mucous membranes, for example, in the oral cavity, they allow the body to avoid excessively hot, cold and other irritants”, said Igor Kastyro, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer at the Department of Normal Physiology, RUDN University.

RUDN University scientists are also researching receptors. At the Department of Normal Physiology of RUDN Medical Institute, doctors invented a device with which it is possible to determine the body’s sensitivity to heat.

“Heat receptors can also act as pain receptors, since extreme temperatures are perceived by the body as pain. At the Department of Normal Physiology, RUDN University, we have proposed a new version of the thermoesthesiometer — a device for studying temperature sensitivity. It is used to determine the limits of human sensitivity to temperature,” said Igor Kastyro.

The research of RUDN University scientists will help to more accurately determine how acclimatization takes place in conditions far from the usual climate and adaptation to new weather conditions.

“Many foreigners from warm countries study at RUDN University. Arriving in Russia, they find themselves in conditions of a long period of low temperatures. We want to observe how the number of these receptors in them changes over time, how their body adapts to low temperatures,” noted Igor Kastyro.

Scientific Conferences View all
12 Dec 2024
About 200 participants from Russia and 20 countries met at the National Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar with International Participation “Law in Medicine. Medicine in Law: Points of Contact”. The subject was “Happy Motherhood: unsolved problems of obstetrics, gynaecology and perinatology”.
898
Visiting Professors View all
12 Dec 2024
In 2024, RUDN started accepting applications for the new annual Prize for Scientific Achievement in Chemistry. The award was established to honour contributions to fundamental and applied research, as well as merit in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
1212
Similar newsletter View all
21 Apr
Building a sustainable future: what are SDGs and how RUDN helps achieve them

Imagine a world where everyone has enough food, clean water, access to education, and decent work. A world where nature is protected and the future of our planet is cared for. These are the Sustainable Development Goals—to achieve a sustainable future for all! To this end, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a global plan that helps countries and people work together towards a better future. All 193 UN member states have joined the plan.

58
21 Apr
Unfounded generalizations and false conclusions: RUDN scientists have identified AI “hallucinations” in the diagnosis of mental disorders

Researchers from the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence at RUDN University conducted a large-scale study that revealed systemic errors in large language models (LLMs) when diagnosing depression based on text. This work, carried out in collaboration with colleagues from AIRI, Federal Research Center “Computer Science and Control” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ivannikov Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and MBZUAI, not only identifies the problem but also lays the foundation for the creation of more reliable and secure tools for detecting depression and anxiety.

50
21 Apr
Rats and neurodegenerative processes: a junior researcher at RUDN University wins Academician A. P. Avtsyn Award

Alexandra Sentyabreva, a junior researcher at the Laboratory of Cell Technologies and Tissue Engineering at RUDN Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Russian University of People's Friendship, won the competition for young scientists at the All-Russian Scientific Conference “Topical Issues of Morphogenesis in Norm and Pathology.” She was awarded the Academician A.P. Avtsyn Prize.

44
Similar newsletter View all