The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries on how the nervous system transmits temperature and touch, Euronews reports.
Their "groundbreaking discoveries" have "led to an understanding of how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world," the Nobel jury in Stockholm praised.
Their work is being used in research for many treatments, including chronic pain.
David Julius, 65, a professor at the University of California, used capsaicin, a pungent, active component from chilli peppers that causes a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to heat.
Ardem Patapoutian, a 12-year-old Beirut-born professor at the Scripps Research Institute, also in California, used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.