Professor Davide Calebiro, Chair of Molecular Endocrinology and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, has been named as the recipient of a prestigious endocrinology award.
Awarded annually by the Society for Endocrinology, the Starling Medal recognises a scientist whose work has contributed to exceptional scientific advances in the field of endocrinology. Acknowledging Professor Calebiro’s ongoing work on G protein-coupled receptor signalling (GPCRs), the award will be presented on 17th November as part of the Society’s annual meeting, which this year will be held virtually. Professor Calebiro will be delivering a lecture at the event entitled ‘Illuminating hormone receptors in physiology and disease’ which will highlight some of the key findings of his research.
Professor Calebiro studied medicine in Milan and Stockholm, obtaining a specialisation in endocrinology and metabolic diseases from the University of Milan. He then spent 10 years at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, part of which as a Humboldt Fellow, before joining the University of Birmingham in 2018. From January 2021, he will become Co-Director of COMPARE, a flagship research centre in partnership with the University of Nottingham dedicated to the study of membrane proteins and receptors with advanced optical methods.
His research focuses on G protein-coupled receptors, which mediate the effects of several hormones and neurotransmitters, and are the targets of at least 30% of all drugs on the market. His group has developed a number of new and innovative optical methods that allow for the investigation of GPCR signalling in living cells. The methods have allowed Professor Calebiro and his team, which is made up of biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers and computer scientists, to investigate some of the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of GPCR signalling, and clarify the pathophysiology of endocrine diseases such as hypothyroidism or Cushing’s syndrome.
Commenting on his success, Professor Calebiro said: “I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive this award, named after Ernest Starling, the father of endocrinology. Like myself, Starling was driven by the curiosity to discover the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of human physiology and disease. I dedicate this award to the amazing colleagues, collaborators and young scientists with whom I had the pleasure to work and share my passion for science during my career.”