Bryan Roth

Bryan L. Roth is an American scientist and educator, recognized for his discoveries and inventions in the general areas of molecular pharmacology, GPCR structure, and function and synthetic neurobiology.
== Education ==
Roth earned his B.A. in Biology from Carroll College in 1977 and his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Saint Louis University Saint Louis University in 1983. After postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), he completed psychiatry residency and followship at Stanford University Stanford University in 1991.
== Work ==
Roth has made contributions to the fields of G protein coupled receptors G protein coupled receptors.
Roth is currently the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is also Director of the NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program.
As of 2021, Roth has published over 450 papers, which have been cited over 71,000 times, placing him at the top 1% of scientists in his field (Google Scholar). He has been awarded over 40 US and international patents.
== Research ==
He has been recognized as a Thompson-Reuters Highly Cited Scientist in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Roth has made contributions to the fields of G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacology and neurobiology, particularly related to the function of serotonin serotonin and opioid opioid receptors. His laboratory reported the structure of a serotonin receptor bound to the hallucinogenic drug, LSD LSD Wacker D, Wang S, McCorvy JD, Betz RM, Venkatakrishnan, AJ, Levit A, Lansu K, Schools Z, Che T, Nichols DE, Shoichet BK, Dror RD, and Roth BL: Crystal structure of an LSD-bound human serotonin receptor. Cell 168: 377-389 . Other major works include identification of new probes and tools to detect GPCRs, obtained through directed evolution in animal cells English JG. Olsen, RHJ, Lansu K, Patel M, White K, Cockrell AS, Sing D, Strachan RT, Wacker D and Roth BL. VEGAS as a platform for facile directed evolution in mammalian cells. Cell 178: 748-761, 2019 , developing receptors activated solely by a synthetic ligand (DREADDs), a chemogenetic chemogenetic platform used to direct selective, dose-dependent activation of a specific G protein subtype in vivo BN Armbruster, X Li, S Herlitzer, M Pausch and BL Roth: Evolving the lock to fit the key to create a family of GPCRs potently activated by an inert ligand. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2007 Mar 20;104(12):5163-8 (Highlighted on Cover) PMID: 17350345 . Thomas Insel Thomas Insel, then Director of NIMH, stated in 2014 that DREADDs were one of the most important breakthrough technologies for the NIH brain initiative brain initiative https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2014/best-of-2014.shtml#6 . and have been used by more than a thousand labs for interrogating neural circuits responsible for simple and complex behaviors in animals.
== Awards and Recognition ==
Roth’s work has been recognized by Science Signaling Science Signaling as one of the ‘Signaling Breakthroughs of ‘2014’ Berndt, J., & Wong, W. (2015, January 06). 2014: Signaling breakthroughs of the year. http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/8/358/eg1.full and 2016 Adler, E. (2017, January 03). 2016: Signaling breakthroughs of the year. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/10/460/eaam5681.full . His DREADD technology was highlighted as one of the important advances in the past 10 years in Nature Chemical Biology Nature Chemical Biology Voices of chemical biology. Nat Chem Biol 11, 446–447 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1845 . Roth’s chemical biology discoveries have been highlighted by NIMH as one of the ‘Top 10 Research Advances of 2011’ Insel, T. (2011, December 23). Post by Former NIMH Director Thomas Insel: Nimh's top 10 research advances of 2011. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2011/nimhs-top-10-research-advances-of-2011.shtml and by Wired Magazine as one of the ‘Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2009.’ Staff, W. (n.d.). Top scientific breakthroughs of 2009. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/discoveries-gallery/ 
Roth is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAM). 
He received the Goodman and Gilman Award in Receptor Pharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and was a 2018 Society for Neuroscience Presidential Special Lecture.
Category:American scientists
Category:American educators
Category:Carroll University alumni