|
Professor Robert Millar is Director of the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit which comprises over 100 researchers and attracts about £5 million annual funding. The Unit research focuses on pathologies of female and male reproductive tissues (eg prostate, breast and ovarian cancers, endometriosis and uterine fibroids), infertility, contraception and hormone replacement therapy. Professor Millar is Professor in the Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences at Edinburgh University. He is founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the reproductive health company, Ardana Biosciences. Professor Millar has interacted and consulted extensively with Pharma and Biotech (Astra Zeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Ipsen, Schering, Pfizer, Debio Pharm, Zymogenetics, Neurocrine, Ferring,Procter and Gamble, Zentaris) and is a member of the board of MRC Technology. He has been visiting professor at numerous universities and presented keynote and plenary lectures at many international meetings.
Prior to holding his present appointments, he has held a personal Chair and made a Fellow at the University of Cape Town, and served as Dean of Research in the Medical Faculty. He has served on the board of many international journals and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Neuroendocrinology. He has published over 350 papers and 20 patents.
Professor Millar’s current research focuses on the molecular functioning of the GnRH receptor with an emphasis on ligand receptor interactions, mechanisms of ligand-mediated receptor activation and coupling to intracellular signalling pathways, and receptor trafficking. Professor Millar pioneered the discovery of the GnRH prohormone and novel GnRHs. His group was involved with collaborators in the first cloning of the GnRH receptor and subsequent discovery of GnRH receptor subtypes. Together with collaborators his laboratory have made major contributions in delineating GnRH binding sites and the molecular mechanisms underlying receptor activation and coupling to signalling pathways. He has participated in, and lead, a number of programmes developing GnRH analogues for use in a wide range of pathologies. His group’s research on distinct antiproliferative effects of selective GnRH analogues on tumour cells has revealed the novel concept of ligand-induced-selective-signalling by GnRH analogues which has implications in the development of new GnRH therapeutics. This phenomenon has implications for the development of greater specificity and selectivity of the large array of drugs targeted at GPCRs which constitute the majority of therapeutics. His research is characterized by the continuum of basic through to clinical and he has been involved in successfully taking four drugs into the clinic.
Most recently he has applied his expertise in GPCR function to understanding the mechanisms of actions of GPCRs involved in appetite, inflammation, cell invasion and angiogenesis with a particular focus the RFamides such as metastin/kisspeptin and gonadotropin-inhibitory-hormone and also on prokineticins. His main acievement in this area has been the recent development of kisspeptin antagonists as neuroendocrine tools and as potential therapeutics in hormone-dependent diseases
|
