Paul Groot-Kormelink
Associate Director in Discovery Sciences - Biomedical Research Novartis
Paul Groot Kormelink obtained his PhD from the University of Leuven in Belgium and continued his focus on ion channels during a six year Postdoc at University College London in the UK. In 2005, he joined the ion channel unit at Novartis (part of the respiratory disease area located in Horsham, UK) before switching to the musculoskeletal disease area in Basel, Switzerland in 2013. He is an experienced drug discovery scientist with over 20 years at Novartis, leading several membrane protein drug targets (ion channels and GPCRs) within the respiratory and neuromuscular disease area space – most recently on GPR126.
Seminars
Wednesday 10th December 2025
Potent Modulators of GPR126 Promote Schwann Cell-Mediated Myelination of Peripheral Nerve Axons
9:15 am
- Discovering potent GPR126 modulators, including picomolar peptide agonists and low-molecular-weight agonists/PAMs, and using cryo-EM to reveal a novel allosteric binding site
- Demonstrating that agonist and PAM modulation of GPR126 increases axon myelination in a Schwann cell in vitro model via activation of myelination pathways
- Presenting aGPCRs as tractable drug targets, with GPR126 modulation offering a promising route for developing therapeutics for peripheral neuropathies
