Released on: March 20, 2008, 11:24 am

Press Release Author: GTCbio

Industry: Biotech

Press Release Summary: - Dr. Susan Taylor, Professor of Pharmacology at UCSD, will
be giving the Featured Presentation at GTCbio's 3rd Protein Kinase in Drug Discovery
Conference on May 5-6, 2008 in San Diego, CA.



Press Release Body: Dr. Taylor will provide an overview on the protein kinase
superfamily, which is one of the largest and most important for biology. These
enzymes serve as master switches for regulating a myriad of biological functions.
They are not only catalysts that mediate the transfer of a phosphate from ATP to
protein substrates but they are also scaffolds that mediate protein:protein
interactions. Dr. Taylor will specifically discuss PKA, one of the best understood
members of this family, and how it serves as a prototype for catalysis and also
defines a dynamic range of docking sites through its interactions with protein
substrates and inhibitors. She will elaborate on the structure of holoenzyme
complexes with RI, RII and RII and show how the large lobe
of the C-subunit serves as a multivalent scaffold. In addition, Dr. Taylor will
illustrate how peptide diversity at the active site cleft contributes to function.
Dr. Taylor will show how analysis of PKA interactions can be applied to explain the
general mechanisms for how a conserved kinase core provides multivalent docking
surfaces for other proteins.

As Professor of Pharmacology at UCSD, Dr. Taylor's research led to solving the
crystal structure of the first protein kinase in 1991, providing a template for this
entire family of essential regulatory enzymes. Understanding the structure and
function of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and the molecular basis for its
regulation, localization and dynamics continues to provide an ideal
interdisciplinary system for coupling technological advances in computation and
biophysics.

GTCbio's 3rd Protein Kinase in Drug Discovery Conference on May 5-6, 2008 in San
Diego, CA will also cover Kinase Drug Design, Kinase Targets and Inhibitors in CNS
Disorders, Oncology, and Inflammatory Disorders, as well as New Technologies in
Screening and Identification of Targets and Inhibitors.

The conference also features presentations from other leading organizations such as
Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Salk Institute,
AstraZeneca, Methylgene, UCSD, and many more. The full agenda is available online at
www.gtcbio.com.

For more information including a detailed agenda, exhibitor opportunities and
registration information visit http://gtcbio.com/userAgenda.aspx?id=121.
ABOUT GTCbio
GTCbio organizes conferences specifically for the biomedical and biopharmaceutical
industries. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of biopharmaceutical and
biomedical intelligence between industry leaders, academic and government
organizations, and the financial community.
GTCbio is a subsidiary of Global Technology Community, LLC, a privately held company
founded in 2002.


Web Site: http://wwwgtcbio.com

Contact Details: GTCBIO
434 W Foothill Blvd. Monrovia, CA. 91016
direc(626) 256-6405, fax(626) 256-6460
infogtcbio@gtcbio.