59 Dr Robert Lefkowitz - The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist - Journey to the Nobel Prize
If you’ve ever experienced the so-called fight or flight response, you’ll know about the rush of adrenaline you get when something triggers your sense of fear. Your heart beats faster. Your blood pressure goes up. Your breathing gets more rapid. Why? Because the adrenalin that your body produces interacts with receptors on cells around the body. Like a key in a lock, the adrenalin binds and triggers a response in those cells which leads to all those fight or flight symptoms you experience. And equally you can block those receptors. Ever heard of beta blockers or anti-histamines? Well they’re blocking those same receptors to dampen down the body’s natural response. The thing is, we didn’t always know how it was that cells knew about the world around them. It was Dr Robert Lefkowitz and his team that first isolated and studied cell receptors, and later discovered their protein structure. Today between 30 and 50% of all the prescription drugs in the world act by activating or inhibiting the receptors of the type that Dr Lefkowitz and his team isolated and characterised. For this discovery, he has received more than 70 awards and in 2012 he and his former trainee Dr Brian Kobilka were together awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr Robert is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University in North Carolina, where he’s been an investigator since the mid-1970s. He’s led an extraordinary life and I know he’s a master storyteller. I can’t wait to hear more about his journey in medicine, science and life, and to hear his reflections on the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he’s experienced along the way.
The Unlock Moment: find your purpose for leadership and life · Dr Robert J Lefkowitz
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Show Notes
If you’ve ever experienced the so-called fight or flight response, you’ll know about the rush of adrenaline you get when something triggers your sense of fear. Your heart beats faster. Your blood pressure goes up. Your breathing gets more rapid. Why? Because the adrenalin that your body produces interacts with receptors on cells around the body. Like a key in a lock, the adrenalin binds and triggers a response in those cells which leads to all those fight or flight symptoms you experience.
And equally you can block those receptors. Ever heard of beta blockers or anti-histamines? Well they’re blocking those same receptors to dampen down the body’s natural response.
The thing is, we didn’t always know how it was that cells knew about the world around them. It was Dr Robert Lefkowitz and his team that first isolated and studied cell receptors, and later discovered their protein structure. Today between 30 and 50% of all the prescription drugs in the world act by activating or inhibiting the receptors of the type that Dr Lefkowitz and his team isolated and characterised.
For this discovery, he has received more than 70 awards and in 2012 he and his former trainee Dr Brian Kobilka were together awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Dr Robert is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University in North Carolina, where he’s been an investigator since the mid-1970s.
He’s led an extraordinary life and I know he’s a master storyteller. I can’t wait to hear more about his journey in medicine, science and life, and to hear his reflections on the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he’s experienced along the way.
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Dr Robert Lefkowitz - https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/robert-j-lefkowitz
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Thing-Happened-Stockholm-Adrenaline-Fueled/dp/1643136380
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