2012 Nobel Prize

Congratulations to Bob Lefkowitz and his one-time student Brian Kobilka for winning this year’s 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry! Not only did these laureates do groundbreaking work on the beta adrenergic receptor, but they have been mentors to many young scientists who have gone on to make great discoveries of their own.

We recently found inspiration in a paper describing  β-Arrestin-biased ligands from a few years ago. Jon Violin and Bob Lefkowitz explain how ligand bias, also known as functional selectivity, is the key to understanding GPCR  pharmacology. Unraveling the biological effects of ligand bias in physiologically relevant systems is certain to be a significant challenge for future GPCR drug discovery, but one that can be tackled with spectrally distinct, genetically-encoded biosensors. For example, assays that can monitor diacylglycerol and calcium activity in living cells.