International meet delivers novel insights

Novel insights into how the body’s G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCR’s), that respond to the smells, sights and threats of the outside world, can be targeted for drug discovery were shared by world-leading experts last week.

The Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences hosted the seventh international meeting of the Molecular Pharmacology of G Protein-Coupled Receptors at the Parkville Campus.

G Protein-Coupled Receptors are the largest and most important family of receptor proteins in the human body. They play a role in virtually every biological process and most diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, neuropsychiatric disorders, inflammation and cancers. 

Almost half the current medications available use GPCRs to achieve their therapeutic effect, and the sensors provide fertile ground for further novel drug discovery.

The meeting brings together delegates of government, academia, industry and scientists from around the globe to discuss the latest developments in the field, emphasising novel concepts in GPCR pharmacology and drug discovery.

Professor Patrick Sexton said the focus of the Drug Discovery Biology program at Monash was on understanding modes of regulation of GPCRs in an effort to identify targets for novel drug discovery.

“The Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences works collaboratively on GPCRs and the drug discovery biology theme is leading the world in the study of novel modes of regulating drug receptors and will continue to make benchmark advances in this field” Professor Sexton said.

“The major focus of our studies is to understand how GPCR’s impact the functioning of receptor proteins and how they can be exploited to direct novel drug discovery.”

MIPS has significant global research links and collaborates closely with Adjunct Professor Brian Kobilka who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year for his major contributions to understanding how GPCRs function.