Stanford’s Kobilka set for Discovery Lecture

Brian Kobilka, M.D.

Stanford’s Kobilka set for Discovery Lecture

The “fight-or-flight” response to stressors causes a surge of adrenaline, which speeds our heart rates, slows our digestive tract and widens our pupils. Adrenaline elicits these varied actions by interacting with adrenergic receptors.

In next week's Discovery Lecture, Brian Kobilka, M.D., professor of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University, will describe the structure and dynamics of the human beta-2 adrenergic receptor. The lecture is on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall, with a reception following in the lobby.

The adrenergic receptors are one of the most extensively characterized subfamilies of “G protein coupled receptors,” nature's most versatile biological sensors and targets for about half of all currently prescribed drugs. Kobilka's group uses a spectrum of approaches ranging from protein crystallography to in vivo mouse knockouts to investigate adrenergic receptor structure and function.

This Discovery Lecture is sponsored by the Department of Pharmacology in honor of Allan D. Bass, M.D., who served as chair of Pharmacology from 1953 to 1973.

For a complete schedule of the Discovery Lecture Series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.