Biography
Graham Ladds is a Reader in Receptor Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge. He obtained his BSc in Biochemistry from Birmingham and his PhD from Warwick University. He continued to work at Warwick firstly as a post-doc, then an independent fellow before establishing his own research group as a lecturer in 2006. In 2015 he was appointed to a lectureship in the Pharmacology department at Cambridge. He is a Fellow and Director of Studies for Pharmacology at St John’s College Cambridge.
Research
Dr Ladds uses a multidisciplinary approach to study the molecular basis of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCRs) signal transduction, with particular interest in G protein-mediated signalling bias. GPCRs are the single largest family of cell surface receptors and, as a result, are of specific interest to the pharmaceutical industry (e.g. AstraZeneca). Dr Ladds’ research studies ways with which to sense outputs from GPCRs upon application of drugs. This uses fluorescent or bioluminescent biosensors to detect very small changes in local concentrations of the so call second messengers. Where possible he integrates his studies with computational modelling to inform his pharmacological investigations.
