Dr. Victor Hruby, Regents Professor Emeritus, Chemistry; Dr. Indraneel Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Chemistry; and Dr. Ronald Lynch, Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology, are all part of a collaborative effort to study G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are the largest known family of proteins. They are involved in a wide range of biological functions in the body, and currently are the target of fifty percent of the drugs on the market today. Hruby, Ghosh and Lynch's research focuses on a specific class of GPCRs termed melanocortin receptors, which are mainly expressed in the central and peripheral nervous system, but can also be found in regions of the skin, gut and heart. These receptors play an essential role in the control of feeding behavior and energy homeostasis, sexual behavior, blood pressure and heart rate, skin pigmentation, and the way the body deals with stress.

Together, these researchers are working to design selective peptide ligands that could act as potential drug therapies for the future. Perspective applications of their research include treatment of obesity, anorexia and cancer- and HIV-related weight loss, nerve injury, heart disease, addiction, cancer prevention and memory retention. Due to the broad scope of physiological actions mediated by melanocortin receptors and their ligands, further investigation of these receptors is of great importance, and may lead to a novel approach to the treatment of disease.

Erin Palmer, UBRPer in Dr. Victor Hruby's lab, Chemistry