Professor Andrew Tobin
- Professor of Molecular Pharmacology (Institute of Molecular Cell & Systems Biology)
telephone: 01413308494
email: Andrew.Tobin@glasgow.ac.uk
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1807-3123Biography
Andrew attended Queen Mary College, University of London where he attained a 1st class honours degree in Biochemistry. Following D.Phil studies at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Dr. Neville Osborne at the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology Andrew spent two years at Bristol Myers, Squibb in Princeton, New Jersey working with Mariano Barbacid on oncogene discovery. Returning to the UK in 1991 as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Leicester with Stefan Nahorski allowed Andrew to research mechanisms of regulation of G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). He establish an independent group in 1996 with the first of three Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowships (SRF). Primarily focused on the physiological function and modes of drug action at GPCRs, Andrew’s group have investigated key novel paradigms in GPCR biology. In particular, he has generated novel genetic and chemical genetic mouse models as well as employed mouse models of disease to define the action of GPCR targeted drugs in the regulation and modification of human diseases including neurodegeneration.
During this time Andrew became interested in employing the pharmacological principles and the technologies developed in the GPCR work to the question of probing essential pathways in the malaria parasite with the aim of developing novel therapeutics. In this work he has focused on protein phosphorylation and described for the first time the essential protein kinases in the human malarial parasite P. falciparum. His group were among the first to publish the global phospho-proteome of the malarial parasite. He is now developing novel protein kinases inhibitors that selectively target essential parasite kinases with the aim of generating next generation anti-malarial’s.
Now at the University of Glasgow Andrew has established the Centre for Translational Pharmacology aimed at drawing together his interests in GPCRs and protein kinases into a Centre focused on defining the novel paradigms in pharmacology that will allow for the rational design of next generation drugs.
Research interests
The Tobin laboratory has two primary areas of research. The first is our long-standing interest in G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) research which has spanned more than two decades. Primarily, focused on understanding how mechanisms of receptor post-translational modification regulate GPCR signalling in vitro and in vivo the group have used novel genetic mouse strains, mouse disease models and novel pharmacological entities to probe the function and therapeutic potential of targeting an array of GPCRs.
The second area of focus of the Tobin laboratory has been our relatively recent application of proteomic, cell biological, chemical genetic and pharmacological approaches to defining the essential phospho-signalling cascades in malaria and how to target these in the development of next generation anti-malarials.
Layman’s summary:
“We have for many years been studying the way drugs work and how we might design better drugs to treat human disease in the future. We have focused much of our work on a group of proteins that are present on the surface of cells and that respond to chemical messengers that are released by one cell and that activate another cell. These proteins are called receptors and although many drugs currently on the market, such as anti-histamines for allergies and beta-blockers for heart disease, target these receptor proteins, largely drug discovery efforts in this area fail. We are using an array of new technologies that include genetically engineered mice, to work out why these drug discovery projects fail and how we might overcome these failures in the future to make better drugs.
In concert with these studies is our work to inhibit processes in the human malarial parasite that are essential for the survival of the parasite. In these studies, we are specifically investigating the role of a universal biochemical process called protein phosphorylation that we have discovered is essential for parasite survival. By developing inhibitors that will stop protein phosphorylation in the parasite we hope to make the next generation of anti-malarials.”
Team Tobin Impact in 60 seconds video
- Research interests - further information
- Centre for Translational Pharmacology
- Molecular Pharmacology
Grants
Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.
- Defining the functional modes of action, and therapeutic potential of targeting, the free fatty acid receptor FFA4 in the lung
Medical Research Council
2018 - 2020
- Defining signal selection from the free fatty acid receptor FFA4; implications for
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2017 - 2021
- MICA Pharmacological, molecular and cellular mechanisms of muscarinic slowing (modification) of neurodegenerative disease.
Medical Research Council
2017 - 2021
- Defining the functional role of the enigmatic G protein coupled receptor GPR35 - Leicester application - PART B
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2017 - 2021
- Collaborative Network to Define the Molecular Determinants of G Protein Coupled Receptor Clinical Efficacy
Wellcome Trust
2017 - 2021
- Using a Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drug to define the role of short chain fatty acids in metabolic disease and inflammation
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2016 - 2019
- GPR120: a G protein-coupled receptor with the potential to regulate insulin secretion and inflammation
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2016 - 2018
- Establishing the Centre for Translational Pharmacology
The Royal Society
2016 - 2021
