Michel Bouvier and his team are studying G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a family of proteins that play a key role in controlling several biological processes and are a prime target for drug development.

Research theme

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of surface proteins involved in cell signaling. In humans, several hundred of these receptors regulate various biological processes such as neurotransmission, metabolism, cell growth, immune and inflammatory responses, olfaction, and vision. These receptors are also prime targets for treating diseases: approximately one-third of prescription drugs target them.

By better understanding the mechanisms governing the function of these receptors and the signaling pathways they activate, it is possible to improve the efficacy and safety of current drugs and develop new therapeutic molecules for several clinical indications, including innovative cancer treatments

Research objectives

Michel Bouvier’s team seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms that control the efficiency and selectivity of RCPG signaling. It is particularly interested in the role of “modular protein scaffolds in RCPG signal transduction.”

Their work has revealed that, contrary to what we believed, a given GPCR controls the activity of several intracellular effectors and that different drugs can selectively regulate different subsets of these effectors (biased signaling). This opens up the possibility of developing drugs that activate beneficial responses while avoiding those that lead to undesirable side effects.

Michel Bouvier’s team develops and uses biochemical and biophysical approaches, such as bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET), which his laboratory developed to study the spatiotemporal propagation of signaling in living cells and reveal the molecular and structural basis of functional selectivity and biased signaling.

In addition to studying the dynamic regulation of RCPGs, the team is also interested in genetic defects that cause them to malfunction, particularly mutant forms of RCPGs responsible for so-called “conformational” diseases. In particular, researchers are currently developing pharmacological chaperones capable of compensating for the impact of the mutation and facilitating the folding, maturation, and transport of RCPGs