Workshop 4: Data analysis of ligand bias and allostery at GPCRs
Tracks
Track 2
| Sunday, July 12, 2026 |
| 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM |
Details
Major life science challenges include, understanding how chemicals outside cells signal to proteins inside, how this results in physiological responses. After centuries of relentlessly exploring how receptors are regulated by endogenous and drug-like molecules, new ideas have emerged in the field that have completely changed and revitalized it. The first paradigm is biased signalling, which is the ability of structurally distinct ligands to stabilise different pools of receptor conformations leading the distinct cellular outcomes. The second paradigm is allostery, which is the mechanism by which some ligands can recognise and bind different regions of receptors compare to the endogenous hormone binding site, and alter its physiological responses. However, both allostery and bias are very complex, making reproducibility and description challenging.
This workshop will use key novel analytical models to analyse and interpret allostery and bias signalling at a major family of GPCR, the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.
Speaker
Assoc Prof Celine Valant
Lab Head
Monash University
Quantification of Allostery and Biased Signalling
Biography
Dr. Celine Valant is the co-leader of the Analytical & Structural Neuropharmacology (ASNP) Laboratory within the Drug Discovery Biology Theme at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA. Celine completed her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in 2005 at The University of Pharmacy, Strasbourg, FRANCE, then took up a postdoctoral position in molecular pharmacology with Prof. Arthur Christopoulos and Patrick Sexton, at Monash University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA, where she established an international profile in the synthesis and study of allosteric ligands at G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). In 2019, Celine became the co-leader of the ASNP laboratory, focusing on understanding the modes of regulation of GPCRs by small molecules, in an effort to identify novel targets or approaches for drug discovery. Her research interests encompass allosterism, biased signalling, analytical pharmacology, and drug design. Through collaborative projects, Celine has also now extended her research interest to computational and structural biology.
Session chair
Alastair Keen
Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Celine Valant
Lab Head
Monash University
