Nobel-winning scientist to talk at SEC event

Eminent scientist Professor Ardem Patapoutian will be the guest speaker at a public event in Glasgow this summer.

The US-based academic won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2021 for his discovery of how the body senses touch, pressure, pain and movement. 

On 13 July, he will be in live conversation at the Scottish Exhibition Campus (SEC) offering rare insight into discovery, responsibility, and the human side of breakthrough science.
 
Alongside a panel discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with scientists, ethicists and AI experts to explore some of today’s most pressing questions. 

The public lecture is one of a wider programme of events as part of the inaugural Synergy for Science 2026 Conference running 12-16 July, jointly organised by the Institute of Physics and the University of Glasgow.  

With the subtitle "Meeting for a Healthier Future," the event aims to bring together diverse communities to collectively address, through collaboration and innovative approaches, the mandate of the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) outlined by the United Nations. 

Scientists, researchers, and thought leaders from various disciplines, who will be attending from around the world, will aim to “break down barriers and shape a brighter, healthier world through interdisciplinary science”.

Prof Massimo Vassalli at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, and a member of the SynSci26 organising committee, said: “To meet the challenges of a healthier future, we need genuine synergy—across disciplines, technologies, and society.  

“Ardem Patapoutian’s discoveries, revealing how cells sense touch and force, show the transformative insights that emerge when different disciplines—physics and biology in this case—come together. This event carries that same spirit of integration into dialogue with ethics, AI, and the public, where the future of innovation is ultimately decided.”

Born in Lebanon to Armenian parents, Patapoutian grew up during the Lebanese Civil War before emigrating to the United States. He often speaks about how diversity and the movement of people enrich science and society.

His discovery of PIEZO receptors — how the body senses touch, pressure, pain, and movement — has transformed understanding of fundamental biology and opened new possibilities in medicine.

He is a professor at The Scripps Research Institute in California and an investigator at The Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 

Public lecture: ‘Where does Science end and Society begin —and who gets to decide the Future of Innovation? Scottish Exhibition Campus, Glasgow, UK, 13 July 2026, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm.

The event is free to the public. More: https://iop.eventsair.com/synsci26/public-lecture