Professor Huaqiang Xu from Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica was invited by IBP to give a report entitled Structure Biology of GPCR Signaling and First-Principle Logic in Biomedicine and Drug Discovery on Sept 26, 2023. The lecture was presided by Professor Jiangyun Wang. The Principal Investigators and students from IBP attended the report.

Prof. Huaqiang Xu is a leading structural biologist. He has published more than 280 papers which had been cited over 34,000 times, including eighteen in Nature and ten in Science. Two papers on plant hormone signaling were selected as one of the top ten breakthroughs by Science (2009). His X-ray laser structure of the first GPCR-arrestin complex was also selected as a top 10 news stories of scientific and technological progress in 2015 and was granted by the 2016 Hans Neurath Award of Protein Society. Prof. Huaqiang Xu was awarded the 13th "C.C. Tan Life Science Achievement Award" and the 22th "Wu Jieping-Paul Janssen & Pharmaceutical Award" in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

This report explored the structural intricacies of GPCR signaling and the imperative of adhering to first-principle logic in biomedicine. Prof. Xu highlighted GPCR's selectivity mechanisms and their novel discovery of the GPCR-GRK2 structure, which balances signaling between G protein and arrestin pathways. Furthermore, he unveiled how small molecule ligands bind uniquely to GPCR's intracellular pocket, which revolutionized GPCR ligand design for varied therapeutic needs. Then, Prof. Xu mentioned drug discovery. The key to effective drug discovery is ensuring biomedicines align with human physiology's inherent laws. Linafexor, an FXR agonist mirroring bile acid metabolic cycles, which is developed by using protein structurally design, having been demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of diseases such as NASH and is currently in clinical trials.

Prof. Xu builds a bridge between basic science and clinical medicine, combining the original results of research with the needs of industry. After the report, the researchers and students raised questions of their interests and exchanged ideas with Prof. Xu.

Professor Jiangyun Wang hosted the lecture

Professor Huaqiang Xu was giving the lecture

Prof. Huaqiang Xu and Prof. Jiangyun Wang

The audience