Summary of the Webinar

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are among the most heavily addressed drug targets in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. It has been estimated that about 40% of all prescription pharmaceuticals on the market address GPCRs in different target tissues. So far the screening for new agonists or antagonists has been largely based on studying (i) the potential binding of (radio-labeled) ligands to their respective receptors, (ii) the production of second messengers upon receptor activation or (iii) reporter gene expression.

All these approaches require rather invasive experimental procedures or even genetic engineering and they are mostly endpoint assays that do not reveal the time course of the cell response or details about intrinsic signal amplification. Lately, non-invasive impedance analysis of cells grown on thin film electrodes has attracted considerable attention in the field as it allows monitoring the response of target cells with endogenous receptor expression in real time and label-free. The disposable electrodes are integrated into regular cell culture dishes of various formats up to 96well multi-well plates.

This webinar will concisely explain the technology and the underlying physical principles. It will focus on several different approaches how label-free impedance measurements help to characterize the pharmacology of GPCRs in cell-based assays: (i) agonist assays; (ii) antagonist assays; (iii) dose-response relationships; (iv) receptor desensitization; and (v) signal transduction profiling.

Webinar Agenda:

1. Introduction
   • Sonja-Stoelzle-Feix (Director of Scientific Affairs, Nanion Technologies)
2. “Profiling the pharmacology of GPCRs using time-resolved impedance monitoring of cell-based assays”
   • Joachim Wegener (Professor, University of Regensburg & Fraunhofer EMFT)
3. Discussion