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Details for Professor Eamonn Kelly

Personal details
Name Professor Eamonn Kelly
Job title Professor of Molecular Pharmacology
Department School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience University of Bristol
Contact details This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations Office.

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work+44 (0)117 331 8092
email:
Qualifications B.Sc.(Sheff.), Ph.D.(Lond.)
Professional details
Keywords G protein-coupled receptors
clinically-prescribed drugs
agonist drugs
desensitisation
effectiveness of drug therapy
molecular mechanisms of desensitisation
functional selectivity
Areas of expertise There are more than 800 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the genome and they represent a major target for clinically-prescribed drugs. Following prolonged or repeated exposure to agonist drugs that activate these receptors, the GPCRs invariably become less responsive to the agonist, a phenomenon called desensitisation. Desensitisation can limit the effectiveness of drug therapy. This group’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of desensitisation of GPCRs.

At the present time we are studying:

• the molecular mechanisms that mediate desensitisation of the ě opioid receptor and its relationship to morphine tolerance

• the co-regulation of group I mGluRs by different protein kinases

• the internalisation, intracellular sorting, and recycling of P2Y receptor subtypes.

We are also beginning to probe the molecular mechanisms that underlie “functional selectivity” at GPCRs, whereby different agonists at the same GPCR can induce different active conformations of the receptor, which can lead to different functional outcomes.