Biochemical Journal Poster Prize Winner

Celine Galés obtained a high technician degree in biochemistry in Paris in 1993. She then decided to pursue her studies at the university and, finally, received her doctorate in molecular and cellular pharmacology from the University of Toulouse in 2001 (France). Her PhD work was supervised by Dr Sandrine Silvente-Poirot at INSERM U531 and related to the structure/function study of a G protein coupled receptor with high physiological functions in the gastrointestinal system and the central nervous system as well, the cholecystokinin 2 receptor (CCK2R).

Celine focused her research during that time on the identification of the molecular determinants involved in the agonist binding site and the activation process of this receptor. By combining 3D modelisation and mutagenesis methodologies, they identified several residues of the receptor involved specifically in the binding of the agonist or its activation (Galés C. et al, JBC 1999, JBC 2000, Mol Pharm 2003). Moreover, identification and characterisation of a constitutively active CCK2R mutant led them, for the first time, to demonstrate the potential oncogenic of CCK2 receptor in nude mice (Galés C. et al, Oncogene 2003).

Celine completed postdoctoral training at the university of Montréal in the laboratory of Dr Michel Bouvier. He was a pioneer in developing BRET technology for the study of GPCRs in living cells. She started to learn the BRET technology, and developed a biosensor to directly assess, for the first time, in living cells, the receptor/ G protein interactions in real-time. The BRET-biosensor was highly efficient in detecting receptor-mediated G protein activation. But surprisingly, the data also suggested that receptor and G protein could be part of a preformed complex submitted to conformational rearrangements following receptor activation.