Speaker Details

Speaker

BRIAN KOBILKA

Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Stanford University

Dr. Kobilka received Bachelor of Science Degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1977. He Graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1981, and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the Barnes Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri in 1984. From 1984-1989 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Robert Lefkowitz at Duke University. In 1990 he joined the faculty of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University. He was promoted to Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Physiology in 2000. Research in the Kobilka lab focuses on the structure and mechanism of action of G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which constitute the largest family of receptors for hormones and neurotransmitters in the human genome. GPCRs are the largest group of targets for new therapeutics for a very broad spectrum of diseases.

Abstract


Structural insights into G protein coupled receptor signaling

G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) conduct the majority of transmembrane responses to hormones and neurotransmitters, and mediate the senses of sight, smell and taste. Many metabolic processes are regulated by GPCRs, and several GPCRs are targets of therapeutics for metabolic disorders including diabetes and obesity. While GPCRs represent the largest class of pharmaceutical targets for a broad spectrum of diseases, the number of new approved drugs for GPCR targets over the past two decades has fallen short of expectations. We have applied protein crystallography and other biophysical approaches to provide structural insights into GPCR activation. I will discuss what these studies have taught us about GPCR signaling, and the potential impact of structural biology on drug discovery efforts.

Symposium Faculty

ALAN D. ATTIE

Professor, Biochemistry
University of Wisconsin

LAURIE H. GLIMCHER

Professor, Dean of Cornell Medical School

ROBERT FARESE

Professor, Genetics and Complex Diseases Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health

GÖKHAN HOTAMIŞLIGİL

Professor, Genetics and Metabolism and Nutrition Harvard
University

BRIAN KOBILKA

Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Stanford University

SUSANNE MANDRUP

Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Southern Denmark

EMILIE MARCUS

CEO of Cell Press and Editor of Cell

RUSLAN MEDZHITOV

David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology; Investigator,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Yale University, HHMI

IRA TABAS

Professor of Anatomy Cell Biology
Columbia University

PETER TONTONOZ

Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of California Los Angeles

DENİZ ATASOY

Assistant Professor, Physiology, School of Medicine
İstanbul Medipol University

EBRU ERBAY

Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology and Genetics
Bilkent University

KIVANÇ BİRSOY

Assist. Professor, Rockefeller University

LALE OZCAN

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Columbia University Medical Center