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InvitrogenTM and the Queenstown Molecular Biology Meeting have developed this prestigious award to recognize and acknowledge the high calibre of molecular biology research being practiced in New Zealand. The total value of the award is NZ$3,000. This is made up of NZ$2,000 cash and a NZ$1,000 travel grant. This Years Award WinnerDr Debbie HayUsing molecular analysis of hormones and their receptors to guide drug development
Drug development harnesses many disciplines which work together to improve the chances of generating successful therapies. Molecular pharmacology, or molecular approaches to the study of drug action, complements structural biology in determining where drugs could or do interact with proteins. Molecular pharmacology can help understand how existing drugs work and can drive future innovation. Therapies based on mimicking or blocking the actions of peptide hormones have substantial promise for treating disease. Many of these peptides mediate their actions via G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs); these are important drug targets but the native peptides are not ideal drug candidates due to their short half-lives in circulation. The goal is to develop small molecule agonists/antagonists or modified, stable peptide agonists/antagonists for these receptors. My research has focussed primarily on the calcitonin family of peptides, which contains several physiologically and clinically relevant peptides. For example, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of migraine with new drugs in clinical trials showing promise for treating this condition. On the other hand, adrenomedullin appears to have major roles in the lymphatic vascular and cardiovascular systems. Targeting adrenomedullin receptors could be a new approach to treating lymphedaema, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Ongoing molecular analysis of these peptide hormones and their receptors has revealed key sites which will help guide drug development. Previous Award Recipients
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