Brian Kobilka Explained

Brian Kobilka
Birth Name:Brian Kent Kobilka
Birth Date:30 May 1955
Birth Place:Little Falls, Minnesota, United States
Fields:Crystallography
Workplaces:Stanford University, Duke University
Alma Mater:University of Minnesota Duluth (BS)
Yale University (MD)
Academic Advisors:Robert Lefkowitz
Awards:Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2012)

Brian Kent Kobilka (born May 30, 1955)[1] is an American physiologist and a recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for discoveries that reveal the workings of G protein-coupled receptors. He is currently a professor in the department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also a co-founder of ConfometRx, a biotechnology company focusing on G protein-coupled receptors. He was named a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

Early life

Kobilka attended St. Mary's Grade School in Little Falls, Minnesota, a part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud.[2] He then graduated from Little Falls High School. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and earned his M.D., cum laude, from Yale University School of Medicine. Following the completion of his residency in internal medicine at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine's Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Kobilka worked in research as a postdoctoral fellow under Robert Lefkowitz at Duke University, where he started work on cloning the β2-adrenergic receptor. Kobilka moved to Stanford in 1989.[3] He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator from 1987 to 2003.[4]

Research

Kobilka is best known for his research on the structure and activity of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs); in particular, work from Kobilka's laboratory determined the molecular structure of the β2-adrenergic receptor.[5] [6] [7] [8] This work has been highly cited by other scientists because GPCRs are important targets for pharmaceutical therapeutics, but notoriously difficult to work with in X-ray crystallography.[9] Before, rhodopsin was the only G-protein coupled receptor where the structure had been determined at high resolution. The β2-adrenergic receptor structure was soon followed by the determination of the molecular structure of several other G-protein coupled receptors.[10]

Kobilka is the 1994 recipient of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology.[11] His GPCR structure work was named "runner-up" for the 2007 "Breakthrough of the Year" award from Science.[12] The work was, in part, supported by Kobilka's 2004 Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award[13] from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.[14] He received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for his work on G protein-coupled receptors.[15] [16] In 2017, Kobilka received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[17]

As part of Shenzhen’s 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening "Nobel laureate research labs",[18] in 2017 he opened the Kobilka Institute of Innovative Drug Discovery at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen in Southern China.[19]

Personal life

Kobilka is from Little Falls in central Minnesota. Both his grandfather Felix J. Kobilka (1893–1991) and his father Franklyn A. Kobilka (1921–2004) were bakers and natives of Little Falls, Minnesota.[20] [21] [22] Kobilka's grandmother, Isabelle Susan Kobilka (née Medved, 1891–1980), belonged to the Medved and Kiewel families of Prussian immigrants, who from 1888 owned the historical Kiewel brewery in Little Falls. His mother is Betty L. Kobilka (née Faust, b. 1930).

Kobilka met his wife Tong Sun Thian, a Malaysian-Chinese woman,[23] at the University of Minnesota Duluth. They have two children, Jason and Megan Kobilka.[20] [24]

Publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BRIAN K. KOBILKA, MD. . https://archive.today/20121216050006/http://www.med.tsinghua.edu.cn/view.asp?id=1880 . dead . 2012-12-16 . Tsinghua University School of Medicine . 2013-01-16 .
  2. Web site: 2012-10-23 . Catholic scientist at Stanford shares Nobel Prize for work in chemistry . https://archive.today/20130215164324/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20121023.htm . dead . 2013-02-15 . Catholic News Service . 2013-01-19 .
  3. The state of GPCR research in 2004 : Nature Reviews Drug Discovery . Nature Reviews Drug Discovery . . 2013-01-19 . 3 . 7 . 10.1038/nrd1458 . 15272499 . 577–626. 2004 . Nature Reviews Drug Discovery GPCR Questionnaire Participants . 33620092 .
  4. Web site: Brian K. Kobilka, M.D. . . 2013-01-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140502155322/http://www.hhmi.com/research/investigators/kobilka_bio.html . 2014-05-02 . dead .
  5. Web site: Cell Insights Could Bring Better Drugs . . 2013-01-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110215182558/https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=4509167&page=1#.UHeI-lFKYsQ . 2011-02-15 . dead .
  6. Rasmussen SG, Choi HJ, Rosenbaum DM, Kobilka TS, Thian FS, Edwards PC, Burghammer M, Ratnala VR, Sanishvili R, Fischetti RF, Schertler GF, Weis WI, Kobilka BK . Crystal structure of the human β2-adrenergic G-protein-coupled receptor . Nature . 450 . 7168 . 383–7 . 2007 . 17952055 . 10.1038/nature06325. 2007Natur.450..383R . 4407117 .
  7. Cherezov V, Rosenbaum DM, Hanson MA, Rasmussen SG, Thian FS, Kobilka TS, Choi HJ, Kuhn P, Weis WI, Kobilka BK, Stevens RC . High Resolution Crystal Structure of an Engineered Human β2-Adrenergic G protein-Coupled Receptor . Science . 318 . 5854 . 1258–65 . 2007 . 17962520 . 10.1126/science.1150577 . 2583103. 2007Sci...318.1258C .
  8. Rosenbaum DM, Cherezov V, Hanson MA, Rasmussen SG, Thian FS, Kobilka TS, Choi HJ, Yao XJ, Weis WI, Stevens RC, Kobilka BK . 1559802 . GPCR engineering yields high-resolution structural insights into β2-adrenergic receptor function . Science . 318 . 5854 . 1266–73 . 2007 . 17962519 . 10.1126/science.1150609. 2007Sci...318.1266R . free .
  9. ScienceWatch.com:Web site: Interview with Brian Kobilka. 2008-10-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20100508201723/http://sciencewatch.com/dr/fbp/2008/08augfbp/08augfbpKobilka/. 2010-05-08. dead.
  10. Hanson . M. A. . Stevens . R. C. . 10.1016/j.str.2008.12.003 . Discovery of New GPCR Biology: One Receptor Structure at a Time . Structure . 17 . 1 . 8–14 . 2009 . 19141277. 2813843 .
  11. Web site: John J. Abel Award . ASPET . 2013-01-24.
  12. Web site: Kobilka's work recognized in magazine award . Stanford University . 2013-01-24. 2008-01-09 .
  13. Web site: 2004-11-10 . Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award Recognizes Eight Exemplary Scientists . National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) . 2013-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081007044503/http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_javits_20041110.htm . 2008-10-07 . dead .
  14. Web site: 2007-12-05 . The Structure of an Important Drug Target Made Crystal Clear . National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) . 2013-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081001161512/http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_GPCR_crystal_structure.htm . 2008-10-01 . dead .
  15. Web site: U.S. Scientists Win Chemistry Nobel. The Wall Street Journal Online . October 10, 2012. October 10, 2012. Hotz, Robert Lee.
  16. News: Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka win 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 11 October 2012. Daily News. 10 October 2012. AP.
  17. Web site: Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement . www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  18. Web site: Shenzhen Has 7 Nobel Prize Winners' Labs, 3 More Planned. 2021-03-15. That's Online. en.
  19. Web site: KOBILKA INSTITUTE OF INNOVATIVE DRUG DISCOVERY CUHK-Shenzhen. 2021-03-15. lhs.cuhk.edu.cn.
  20. Web site: 2004-03-16 . Franklyn A. Kobilka, 83 . ECM Publishers, Inc . 2013-01-16 . https://archive.today/20121209103137/http://archives.ecmpublishers.info/2004/03/16/579978/ . 2012-12-09 . dead .
  21. Web site: Paul Walsh . Alejandra Matos . 2012-10-11 . Little Falls bakery helps deliver a sweet reward: Nobel Prize . StarTribune . 2013-01-16.
  22. Web site: Social Security Death Index . 2012-10-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121206040707/http://sortedbyname.com/pages/k106122.html . 2012-12-06 . dead .
  23. Web site: 2012-10-11 . http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/264253?tid=2 . zh:大馬華人女婿獲諾獎‧化學獎得主科比爾卡會煮豉油雞 . 星洲日報 . zh . 2013-01-16 . 2012-12-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121219061725/http://sinchew.com.my/node/264253?tid=2 . dead .
  24. Buchen. Lizzie. Cell signalling: It's all about the structure. Nature. 24 August 2011. 476. 7361. 387–390. 10.1038/476387a. 21866135. 2011Natur.476..387B. free.

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