The 2021 Axelrod Awardee, Joan Heller Brown, has organized a fast-paced symposium that will include her award lecture. The Axelrod symposium is funded by the John V. Croker Fund.

It is now appreciated that G-protein coupled receptors and G-protein signaling pathways regulate chronic responses mediated through changes in gene transcription. Dr. Heller Brown will discuss studies that began with G-protein regulation of astrocyte growth and of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and lead to discovery of pathways critical for glioblastoma tumorgenesis and development of heart failure. Immediately following we’ll hear from Stefan Offermanns exploring novel GPCRs regulating metabolic disease, Gerald Dorn discussing G-proteins in mitochondrial dynamics and heart disease, and wrap up with a talk from Bryan Roth about GPCRs in psychiatric disorders.