Symposium 15: Regulation of localised signalling by G protein-coupled receptors
Tracks
Track 7
| Wednesday, July 15, 2026 |
| 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM |
Details
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) were traditionally viewed as plasma membrane delimited receptors, however, there is increasing evidence that these receptors can also signal from intracellular locations. Some receptors induce distinct responses at the plasma membrane compared to after their internalisation and trafficking to intracellular organelles such as the endosomal network and the Golgi apparatus. GPCRs can also exist at intracellular organelles in situ without first trafficking from the plasma membrane, where they initiate distinct cellular responses compared to stimulation of plasma membrane receptors. This spatial organisation of signalling is a mechanism that allows GPCRs to couple to a finite set of intracellular signalling pathways but initiate distinct cellular responses. This symposium will explore the latest knowledge in the regulation of sub-cellular cAMP signalling by GPCRs.
Speaker
Prof Jin Zhang
University of California, San Diego
Spatial Compartmentation of GPCR Signaling
Biography
Dr. Jin Zhang received her Bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University and her PhD in Chemistry from University of Chicago in 2000. After completing her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of the late Roger Tsien at UC San Diego, she joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2003. She was promoted to Professor of Pharmacology in 2013. In 2015 she moved back to UC San Diego and is currently Professor and vice Chair in Department of Pharmacology. Research in her lab focuses on developing enabling technologies to probe the active molecules in their native environment and characterizing how these active molecules change in diseases including cancer. Dr Zhang is a recipient of the Biophysical Society Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award (2009), NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2009), John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology (2012), Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (2012), NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (2015 and 2022), Robert R. Ruffolo Career Achievement Award in Pharmacology (2022), Protein Society Christian B. Anfinsen Award (2022) and Biophysical Society Carolyn Cohen Innovation Award from (2023). She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014, a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2019 and a Fellow of American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 2021. Dr. Zhang also received UC San Diego Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Scholar Mentoring in 2019 and UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Mentoring Award in 2022. She currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, on the External Advisory Board for Biophysics of the Johns Hopkins University and on the Basic Sciences External Advisory Council (BSEAC) of Vanderbilt University.
A/Prof Roshanak Irannejad
University of California, San Francisco
Presenter
Biography
Roshanak Irannejad holds a B.S. in Microbiology and an M.S. in Immunology from Shahid Beheshti university of Tehran, Iran. In 2010, she received her Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology, under the supervision of Dr. Phil Wedegaertner, at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the laboratory of Dr. Mark von Zastrow. She is currently an associate professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF. She pioneered the development of novel nanobody-based biosensors that allowed visualization of G protein and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCRs) signaling in living cells. Using these tools, her lab discovered that signaling cues to cells not only act on GPCRs that reside on the cell surface but also on those on subcellular compartments such as endosomes and the Golgi apparatus. These ideas have resulted in both changes in the conceptual framework of the field and have opened new avenues for development of more effective and selective therapeutic strategies. The overall goal of her lab is to understand the roles of organelle-based signaling and membrane trafficking events as two key steps in cellular responses to external cues. In addition, her lab seeks to understand the molecular and physiological consequences of subcellular signaling at each location, particularly in the context of regulating cardiac function. She has been the recipient of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) early career award in 2023.
Prof Andreas Bock
Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
GPCR signaling at the nanometer scale
Biography
Andreas Bock is a pharmacologist whose research focuses on the structural dynamics of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) activation and the spatiotemporal organization of GPCR signaling in living cells. After studying pharmacy at the Universities of Bonn (Germany) and Valencia (Spain) and earning his PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Bonn, he trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Martin Lohse in Würzburg. He was a visiting scholar in the Jin Zhang lab at the University of California San Diego (USA) and subsequently co-led the Receptor Signaling Lab at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin (Germany). From 2022 to 2024 he served as Associate Professor at the University of Leipzig before being appointed Professor and Chair of Pharmacology at the University Medical Center (UMC) in Mainz (Germany) in 2024. He is currently the director of the Institute of Pharmacology at UMC Mainz.
The Bock lab designs genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors and uses advanced live-cell microscopy to visualize GPCR signaling at the nanometer scale. His team discovered that cAMP signaling is compartmentalized within cells in nanometer-size signaling domains, challenging the long-standing view that GPCR signaling requires freely diffusing second messengers. His work further advances the conceptual framework to understand receptor-specific cell responses.
Andreas Bock has received the Fritz-Külz-Award and the Rudolf-Buchheim-Award of the German Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology and is regularly invited to speak at major international GPCR and pharmacology meetings. Andreas Bock is also active in supporting early-career researchers, co-founding the Transatlantic GPCR Symposium and having served in leadership roles within large European and global GPCR networks.
Assist/Prof Ying Wang
Southeast University
Gene therapy of MAOA fine-tunes nuclear cAMP nanodomain and improves cardiac hypertrophy
Biography
Ying Wang (BRID 02066.00.81605) is a Professor at the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering,Southeast University. Her research interests include developing innovative therapeutic strategies for cardiac diseases by dissecting the spatiotemporal regulation of cardiac signaling in both healthy and diseased hearts.
Mr Eric Le
Monash University
Session chair
Michelle Halls
Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University
Yang Kevin Xiang
University Of California At Davis