Sept. 9: Stanford University School of Medicine Cardiologist to Deliver Ford Lectures

Monday, September 9, 2019
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
First of two lectures

KEYC TV coverage

Mankato, Minn. – Dr. Brian Kobilka (M.D.), professor of molecular and cellular physiology, and Hélène Irwin Fagan Chair in Cardiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will deliver two lectures at Minnesota State Mankato on Monday, Sept. 9 in the University’s 30th annual Leonard A. Ford Lectureship.

Both lectures, free and open to the public, will be presented on campus in the Centennial Student Union’s Ostrander Auditorium.

Kobilka, a Nobel Laureate, will give a technical talk, titled “Structural Insights into G Protein Coupled Receptor Activation,” at 9 a.m.

Kobilka will then present a general talk, titled “From Bedside to Bench and Back, My Career as a Physician Scientist,” at 7 p.m.

In a preview of his general talk, Kobilka wrote that he will talk about his path to a career as a physician scientist: “My initial goal was to become a physician, probably due the fact that I grew up in a small town where physicians were held in high regard. During my undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota Duluth and medical training at Yale, I became interested in research. Following my residency in internal medicine, I had the opportunity to get involved in research on a family of proteins known as G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) at Duke University. GPCRs conduct the majority of cellular responses to hormones and neurotransmitters including adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin, and are therefore the largest group of pharmaceutical targets for a broad spectrum of diseases. This experience at Duke led to a faculty position at Stanford University, where I established a research program to understand how GPCRs work at the molecular level.”

The event is sponsored by the Department of Chemistry and Geologyin Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology.

For more information, contact Christine Cords, office manager in the Department of Chemistry and Geology, at 507-389-1963, or christine.cords@mnsu.edu.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,227 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 30 colleges and seven universities.