Professor Richard Bond

Richard A Bond received his PhD in pharmacology with Dr David Clarke at the University of Houston, and did his postdoctoral training with Paul Vanhoutte at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas. His early work provided functional evidence for a novel beta-adrenoceptor that was eventually found to be the beta3-adrenoceptor. Then in collaboration with Robert Lefkowitz he undertook studies on the spontaneous activity of G-protein-coupled receptors and compounds functioning as inverse agonists. Most recently, he became interested in the paradigm shift that occurred with regard to the use of beta-adrenoceptor antagonists/inverse agonists in the treatment of heart failure. This led him to examine whether the unexpected reversal in heart failure is a one-off event, or applicable to other diseases such as asthma. His results suggest the findings in heart failure are likely applicable to asthma and possibly other diseases. Dr Bond’s work has appeared in top scientific journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS, and his work has been featured in numerous editorials and commentaries written by other scientists. He is Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Houston in Texas.