Our congratulations to Dr. Bryan L. Roth for being the recipient of the prestigious 2016 Louis S. Goodman & Alfred Gilman Award in Receptor Pharmacology by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).
From the ASPET 2016 Award Website:
“This biennial award was established in 1980 to recognize and stimulate outstanding research in the pharmacology of biological receptors. Such research is the foundation for a better understanding of the mechanisms of biological processes and potentially provides the basis for the discovery of drugs useful in the treatment of diseases.”
“Dr. Roth is recognized for at least three distinct, landmark contributions in receptor pharmacology. First, in a 2000 paper and a follow up 2007 paper in New England Journal of Medicine, he reported the mechanism underlying the valvulopathic side effects of several clinically-approved drugs, including the blockbuster obesity drug fenfluoramine (a component of fen-phen, since withdrawn). Second, in a 2002 paper, he identified the kappa-opioid receptor as the molecular target for salvinorin A, a widely abused hallucinogen. In a 2012 Nature paper, with long time collaborator Ray Stevens, he described the first crystal structure determination of the receptor. Third, over the last few years he and his colleagues have developed a chemogenetic platform called DREADD (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs). This technology allows selective, dose-dependent, reversible pharmacological manipulation of any cell containing an engineered G protein coupled receptor. This technology has proven particularly useful for experimental manipulation of CNS activity, and has led to new insights relating neurotransmitters, neuronal signaling and behavior. Thomas Insel, Director of NIMH, has stated that DREADDs were one of the most important breakthrough technologies for the NIH brain initiative.”
ASPET will present Dr. Roth with the Goodman & Gilman Award on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at the Business Meeting and Awards Presentation at the ASPET Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2016 at the San Diego Convention Center.