Biochemistry Seminar: Joshua Levitz, "Biophysical Mechanisms of Neuronal G Protein-Coupled Receptors"

Dates
Wed, Mar 22, 2023 - 12:00 PM — Wed, Mar 22, 2023 - 01:00 PM
Admission Fee
Free. Coffee & tea will be available in the ASRC Cafe at 11:30 AM
Event Address
The speaker will be in-person:
ASRC Main Auditorium
85 Saint Nicholas Terrace
Current CUNY Cleared4 Pass is required for entrance; masks are optional.
Phone Number
212-650-8803
Event Location
The seminar can also be viewed via Zoom.
Zoom link: https://gc-cuny.zoom.us/j/96831042138
Passcode: ASRC-CDI
Event Details

Joshua Levitz, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, will give a talk titled, "Mechanisms of Activation and Regulation of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors."

ABSTRACT

The metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are family C GPCRs which play critical roles in synaptic neuromodulation and serve as drug targets for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Their core features of constitutive dimerization and multi-domain architecture raise many fundamental structural and biophysical questions about their assembly, activation, and regulation. Using a variety of in vitro and live cell biophysical methods, ranging from cryo-EM to super-resolution microscopy, we have dissected the conserved and subtype-selective assembly and conformational dynamics of mGluRs at both the extracellular and transmembrane domains. Critically, we reveal distinct modes of receptor activation by orthosteric versus allosteric ligands and complex subtype-specific heterodimerization profiles. In addition, we have found extreme diversity in the ability of mGluR subtypes to couple to GPCR kinases (GRKs) and beta-arrestins. We have probed the underlying molecular mechanisms that control this subtype diversity and characterized how GRK and beta-arrestin coupling regulate mGluR signaling and trafficking, including in the synaptic context.

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