Drug discovery to fight Obesity: Targeting G-protein coupled receptors

Obesity in the UK and globally is a major epidemic with enormous health and financial implications. Obesity is a risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. There are therapeutic approaches for obesity including small molecules and surgery but all have varying success rates. Indeed, one, lorcaserin is a 5HT2c agonist already FDA approved for weight loss but it has had mixed success due to side effects. This project seeks to develop a better way of targeting the hypothalamic neurons (where 5-HT2c and other important G-protein coupled receptors are found) in order to reduce weight gain and impact the global obesity pandemic. The student working on this project will be trained and become fluent in drug discovery techniques and at the end be an attractive candidate for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.