Krebs Lecture
The Edwin G. Krebs Lectureship in Molecular Pharmacology
The Twenty-Sixth Annual Edwin G. Krebs Lecture in Molecular Pharmacology
Sponsored by an endowment from Sterling Winthrop, Inc.
The Molecular Choreography Underlying Signal Transmission at Chemical Synapses
by: Dr. Eric Gouaux
Senior Scientist
Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Tuesday, June 4, 2013,
4:30 PM, Room D-209, Health Sciences Building
About the Lectureship
The goal of research in molecular pharmacology is to understand the action of hormones and drugs on the molecular components of their target cells. Dr. Edwin G. Krebs, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology and Biochemistry and Emeritus Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is a pioneer in unraveling the complex pathways by which hormones and drugs regulate cellular functions. In 1955, Dr. Krebs and Dr. Edmond Fischer, working in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, discovered the process of protein phosphorylation as the final chemical reaction in the hormonal pathway that regulates metabolism of glycogen, a complex carbohydrate used as an energy storage molecule in cells. The enzyme that carries out this chemical reaction, phosphorylase kinase, was the first example of a protein kinase, a family of enzymes now known to be the most important regulators of cell function. In further studies of this process in 1968, Dr. Krebs and his associates discovered a new enzyme, called cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, which mediates nearly all of the myriad actions of cyclic AMP regulation of cellular function by hormones and drugs. In recent years, members of the protein kinase enzyme family have been shown to be important in the action of an increasing number of hormones and drugs, as well as in regulation of cell growth, development, and malignant transformation, and in learning and memory in the nervous system. The pioneering discovery of protein phosphorylation by Drs. Krebs and Fischer led to the receipt of the Nobel Prize for Physiology for Medicine in 1992.
During his outstanding career, Dr. Krebs has been Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Washington and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biological Chemistry at the University of California, Davis from 1968 to 1977. As the second Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Washington, from 1977 to 1984, Dr. Krebs led a major expansion of research in molecular pharmacology at this university. The Edwin G. Krebs Lectureship in Molecular Pharmacology is intended to recognize Dr. Krebs' major achievements in research and administration in the field of molecular pharmacology and to stimulate at the University further development of this area of excellence.
The Edwin G. Krebs Lectureship in Molecular Pharmacology
Annual List of Lectures
| 2012 | Structural mechanisms in the activation of the EGF receptor. John Kuriyan, Ph.D., Chancellor's Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, University of California, Berkeley |
| 2011 | The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: a model of allosteric membrane protein Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux, Pasteur Institute, Paris |
| 2010 | Structural Insights into the Dynamic Process of G Protein Coupled Receptor Activation Brian Kobilka, MD, Professor, Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University |
| 2009 | The Islet of Langerhans as an Integrative Signaling Unit Per-Olof Berggren, Ph.D., The Rolf Luft Research Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Karolinska Institutet |
| 2008 | Cell Signaling in Space & Time John Scott, Ph.D., Oregon Health Sciences University |
| 2007 | Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases: Their Roles in Health and Disease Jack Dixon, Ph.D., University of California San Diego School of Medicine |
| 2006 | Use of 3D Models to Study Signaling Pathways Involved in Epithelial Morphogenesis and Oncogenesis Joan Brugge, Ph.D., Chair and Professor, Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School |
| 2005 | Facing Grand Challenges: Drug Discovery and Development in the 21st Century Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President for Research and Development, Amgen, Inc. |
| 2004 | The Control of Cell Cycle Transitions Tim Hunt, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, Cancer Research UK, Clare Hall Laboratories |
| 2003 | Signal Transduction by Stress-activated Protein Kinases Roger J. Davis, Ph.D., Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester |
| 2002 | Regulation of transcriptional coactivators and corepressors Richard H. Goodman, Ph.D., Director and Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute, Professor, Departments of Medicine, Cell and Developmental Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Vice-Chairman, Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University |
| 2001 | Protein
Modules in Signal Transduction and the Cell Cycle Anthony J. Pawson, Ph.D., Full Professor, University of Toronto & Head, Program in Molecular Biology and Cancer, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Center |
| 2000 | Genetically Encoded Indicators of Signal Transduction and Protein Interactions Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Pharmacology and Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| 1999 | Elementary and Global Aspects of Calcium Signaling Michael J. Berridge, Ph.D., Deputy Chief Scientific Officer, Laboratory of Molecular Signaling, The Babraham Institute; Honorary Professor of Cell Signaling, University of Cambridge |
| 1998 | Signaling via Phosphoinositide Kinases Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D., Professor, Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School; Chief, Division of Signal Transduction, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital |
| 1997 | Signaling by Protein-Tyrosine Kinases and Phosphatases Tony Hunter, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular Biology and Virology Laboratory, The Salk Institute; Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego |
| 1996 | Genes, Synapses, and Long-Term Memory Eric R. Kandel, M.D., University Professor and Director, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, Senior Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| 1995 | CAMP-dependent Protein kinase: Structural Insights for Regulation and Catalysis Susan S. Taylor, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Deigo |
| 1994 | Early Intracellular Steps in Insulin Action and their Alterations
in Diabetic States C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., Research Director, Joslin Diabetes Center; Mary K. Iacocca Professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School |
| 1993 | Dissection of the Protein Kinase Cascades involved in Insulin and Nerve
Growth Factor Action Philip Cohen, Royal Society Research Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Dundee |
| 1992 | The Protein Kinase C Family: From Membrane to Phospholipid Degradation
to Cellular Regulation Yasutomi Nishizuka, Professor and Chairman, Department of Biochemistry, Kobe University School of Medicine |
| 1991 | Signal Transduction in the Nervous System Paul Greengard, Ph.D., Professor and Head, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Rockefeller University |
| 1990 | G Proteins and Regulation of Adenylyl Cyclase Alfred G. Gilman, Ph.D., Raymond and Ellen Willie Professor, Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School |
| 1989 | The Insulin Receptor and Insulin Action Ora Mendelsohn Rosen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center |
| 1988 | The Adrenergic Receptors Robert J. Lefkowitz, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University |
