On May 18th, Brian K. Kobilka , the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, a member of Nation Academy of Sciences, and a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine was engaged as an honorary professor in HUST at Tongji Medical College. Lu Youming, the subdean of the Tongji Medical College, presented the letter of appointment to Brain, and Li Hua, the professor from the School of Pharmacy introduced the outstanding contributions that Kobilka made to the field of G protein coupled receptor.

Lu also extended his sincerely gratitude to Kobilka for his joining the university and spoke highly of Kobilka’s contributions to the field of G protein coupled receptor, as well as expressed his admiration to Kobilka for the undivided attention he paid to scientific research. Lu said that as one of the top scientists, Kobilka has always been active in the academic world of biological medicine and the industrial circle of pharmacy. Kobilka’s being an honorary professor in the university will not only improve the academic reputation of the university, but also make it possible for Kobilka to frequently exchange and give lectures in the university. Kobilka’s success and innovation spirit will benefit the discipline construction of biological medicine in the university and even promote the production, teaching and research of biological medicine in Hubei Province.

After the ceremony of appointment, Kobilka gave an academic report titled “Structural Insights into the Dynamic Process of G protein Coupled Receptor Signaling”, sharing the difficult process of researching G protein coupled receptor. The keen interest in the field together with perseverance and consistency helped him overcome challenges in every step—from the cloning of gene to the expression and purification and crystallization of protein, and finally achieve breakthroughs.

Born in 1955 in Little Falls, Minnesota, the USA, Kobilka got his MD from Yale School of Medicine as a top student in 1981. He is currently a professor in the departments of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also the co-founder of ConfometRx, a biotechnology company focusing on G protein-coupled receptors. In 2011, he was named a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the first to analyze the crystal structure of G protein coupled receptor （GPCR） in the world, illuminating the physiological function of it at atom level and the molecular mechanism of drug action that takes GPCR as a target, which is a epoch-making breakthrough in the field of biomedicine, especially pharmacology. At present, GPCR is the target of more 1/3 drug action and 60% of the small molecule drugs whose sales rank top 20 take GPCR as targets of drug action. Kobilka’s research results play important roles in illustrating the functional mechanism of existing drugs and subsequent drug design and development. Kobilka’s GPCR structure work was named "runner-up" for the 2007 "Breakthrough of the Year" award from Science. The work was, in part, supported by Kobilka's 2004 Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awardfrom the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for his work on G protein-coupled receptors.

Su Xiaodong, a professor from Peking University and the vice chairman of Chinese Association of Rehabiliattion Medicine, gave a report named “Structure and Function Study on Inherent Immune and Important Adaptor Protein STING”.
The ceremony of appointment was hosted by Xiang Guangya, the subdean of HUST School of Pharmacy and attended by Tang Chun, a researcher from Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhang Youhui, the dean of the School of Pharmacy, Hu Ruimin, the deputy director of the International Exchange Center, Huang Kun, the deputy director of medical disciplines and development planning office of the Tongji Medical College and 300 more people who are from Hubei Provincial Association of Rehabiliattion Medicine and colleges and universities and study protein.