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Miriam Stoeber
Miriam Stoeber has been an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism at the AV短视频 since 2019, thanks to an SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship. She initially did her doctorate at EPFL, then pursued research at Oxford AV短视频 (UK) and the AV短视频 of California, San Francisco (USA). She specialised in cell biology, pharmacology, structural biology and neuroscience.
She and her team aim to discover the cellular basis of the action of neuromodulatory drugs. To do this, she is developing new approaches to detect and modulate the activity of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at specific subcellular sites. She believes that understanding the spatio-temporal logic of signal transduction is an essential prerequisite for the development of more reliable therapies capable of inducing the specific physiological responses desired. The GPRCs are targeted by 35% of authorised drugs, including therapeutic treatments for various neuropsychiatric disorders.
Optimising GPCR modulation
Modulating the activity of neuronal circuits is essential for information processing in the brain. GPRCs the targets of most neuromodulatory ligands, exhibit extremely diverse neuronal expression patterns. Receptors can be located in different compartments of sub-neuronal membranes. When activated, GPCRs promote signalling cascades that have a critical impact on neuronal physiology. Her research aims to understand how GPCRs, present in different cellular compartments, induce the action of endogenous ligands or drugs. She is focusing on opioid and serotonin receptors, important therapeutic targets for the treatment of pain and neuropsychiatric disorders respectively. Her team is also developing the next generation of GPCR modulators by exploiting the remarkable characteristics of heavy chain antibodies (nanobodies). These can bind GPCRs with optimal affinity and selectivity.
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