Comments were spread on social media, in which the owners expressed their joy at the news of winning the award in the most difficult conditions that Lebanon is experiencing, expressing a glimmer of hope amid the dark darkness that surrounds their country.
While many expected the prize to go to at least one of the developers of the Covid-19 vaccine, Thomas Perelman of the Nobel Committee stated in the award announcement, that both doctors Julius and Patbutian had “unlocked one of nature’s secrets.”
The American scientist, Lebanese-Armenian, Patbutian and his American colleague David Julius won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries in the field of heat and touch receptors.
How did he know he won?
According to information obtained by “Sky News Arabia”, Pataputian was turning on the “Do Not Disturb” mode, to limit interruptions on his phone when the committee responsible for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm tried to contact him, but he received the news from his father as the press conference began. He followed him while he was sitting in bed with his son Luca, before making a short call with the chief scientific officer of the “Noble”, Adam Smith, moments after announcing his award with his colleague, explaining the details of their research findings, saying, “In science, in many Sometimes what we take for granted is very important.”
According to the director of public relations and media at the American University of Beirut, Simon Kashar, Patabotian, a professor of neuroscience at the Scripps Research Institute in California, studied at the American University in Lebanon during the 1985-1986 academic year, majoring in chemistry, adding in an interview with “Sky News Arabia.” The university will issue a statement explaining that a former student won the Nobel Prize.
Sources told Sky News Arabia that Patabotian was born in Beirut and talks proudly of his trips to the Mediterranean, the wooded mountains surrounding Beirut, and the “beautiful campus of the American University in Lebanon.”
According to the sources, the escalation of the conflict during the Lebanese civil war led to the arrest of Patbutian, and his detention by gunmen, after which he emigrated to Los Angeles after a few months.
Before winning the Nobel Prize, Patabotian was previously awarded with his colleague Julius the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, and he was jointly awarded the Rosenstiel Prize in 2019 with a scientist for “outstanding work in basic medical research”.
Commenting on Patbutian’s winning of the Nobel Prize, the journalist Ricardo Karam told Sky News Arabia: “Most of us in Lebanon do not know him, but it is a great honor for us and for everyone in the darkest days we are witnessing.”
Karam tweeted on his pages on the social networking sites, saying: “The Lebanese-Armenian-American Erdem Patabotian receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. It is a great pride.”
Sources close to the award winner’s family told Sky News Arabia that Bataputian immigrated from Beirut with his family, and lived in the Zaydania – Zarif area, close to Hamra Street, where the American University of Beirut is located.
Who is Pataputian?
The Lebanese-Armenian-American winner is a professor in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Neuroscience, UCSD and Scripps Research Joint Appointments Laboratory, and a professor at the Doris Center for Neurosciences.
He held several positions in the United States, including as a faculty member and supervising the graduate program, and received a doctorate in biology from the California Institute of Technology in 1996.
He also held the positions of Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience (MCN), Scripps Research and Professor of Cell Biology.
In 2005 he was Head of the Department of Neuroscience at the Institute of Genomics of the Novartis Research Foundation.
Patbutian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new class of receptors that interact with mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
It is worth noting that the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded last year to three virologists, in recognition of research related to the hepatitis C virus.
.