Milligan, Graeme
Professor of Molecular Pharmacology; Joint Research Director, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow.
Professor Graeme Milligan is recognised as a leading pioneer in the UK in research into G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), and as one of the top names in this field throughout Europe.
He has been based in the University of Glasgow's renowned Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences (IBLS) for nearly 20 years. A native of Dumfries and graduate of Nottingham University, Prof. Milligan came to Glasgow in 1986 after spending several years at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland where he completed his post-doctoral studies.
Once he had completed his post-doctoral studies in the US, Prof Milligan had the opportunity to work with the highly-respected researcher Prof Miles Houslay at the University of Glasgow. Prof Houslay asked Prof Milligan to join him there in an academic position, where he has been ever since. With these two leading scientists working in the area of cellular signalling, FBLS can boast the most impressive research capability in the UK.
Almost since the beginning of his professional research career, Prof Milligan's work has been focused on how G-proteins in the human body respond to external stimuli when a ligand binds to a receptor.
His work in this area is internationally renowned; he sits on the scientific advisory board of the Caledonian Research Foundation and the Biomedical Research Fellowship Committee for the Royal Society of Edinburgh, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of two emerging pharmaceutical companies, Cara Therapeutics (www.caratherapeutics.com) and Heptares therapuetics (www.heptares.com) and he is regularly asked to speak at high-profile conferences and meetings around the world. He also acts on a regular basis to design the programme for scientific meetings at the interface between Academic research and Pharmaceutical drug discovery. In recent times he has acted as co-chair and organiser of the 2004 and 2006 "Keystone" meetings on GPCRs and is joint Programme Chair of the Society for Biomolecular Sciences annual conference and exhibition 2009.
G-protein coupled receptors are a massive family of proteins - one of the largest in the human genome - which are responsible for signalling the presence of many hormones and neurotransmitters generated by the body. They are also the sites of action of many medicines. Acute attacks of asthma, for example, are alleviated by a molecule which triggers the activation of a certain G-protein coupled receptor.
Prof Milligan says: "G-protein coupled receptors are of great interest because, historically, the pharmaceutical industry has had considerable success in making medicines that target these receptors. The medicines we take for granted are things like beta blockers, for example, which target a particular G-protein coupled receptor - in fact, it's now said that something like 30 or 40 per cent of all clinically-prescribed medicines target this family of receptors."
Unsurprisingly, novel medicines which target G-protein coupled receptors are potentially highly-lucrative for pharmaceutical companies. Prof Milligan works closely with a number of these firms in creating novel compounds, and has developed a number of assays that allow companies to screen for novel ligands which bind to G-protein coupled receptors.
Cara Therapeutics, a Conneticut-based company with a particular interest in managing pain, have in-licensed Prof Milligan's patented technology to aid their work in discovering tissue-selective analgesics.
Prof Milligan says: "The possible outcome of this research could be hugely significant for people who suffer from chronic pain. Morphine and related opioids are very effective drugs up until a point, but there are well-documented problems with addiction and tolerance which make it desirable that we should find an alternative."
Work such as this has brought Prof Milligan to the attention of an international pharmaceutical audience. His work is highly-regarded by giants including Glaxo SmithKline and AstraZeneca, who seek his expertise regularly in developing their own compounds.
Additionally, under a government scheme, PhD students from Prof Milligan's laboratory are part-sponsored by a pharmaceutical company to carry out research with them.
Prof Milligan says: "It's testament to the talent coming out of the West of Scotland that these major industry players are happy to accept our PhD students into their R&D process. The reciprocal benefit is that it allows the students to get a flavour of what it is like to work in-house for a large pharma company, while the company can take advantage of the significant research capability of our PhD students.
"I believe that we are leading the way in this area of research in the UK, and we are among the leaders in Europe. The expertise, technology and knowledge we can bring to the table hopefully means that the pharmaceutical industry will continue to discover new medicines which will make millions of people's lives easier."
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