Grégory Scherrer

Grégory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD, is a Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) in the Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology and of Pharmacology, and a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center. Dr. Scherrer received his PharmD and PhD from the University of Strasbourg, France, under the supervision of Prof. Brigitte Kieffer, a pioneer of opioid receptor cloning, where he was first trained in the molecular pharmacology of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). He completed postdoctoral training at UCSF and Columbia University, studying the neurobiology of pain in the laboratories of Prof. Allan Basbaum and Prof. Amy MacDermott, respectively. In 2012, Dr. Scherrer joined Stanford University as an Assistant Professor, moving to UNC-CH in September 2019. His laboratory investigates the neural circuit organization and molecular mechanisms underlying pain perception and opioid analgesia, examining the sensory, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of pain as well as the analgesic and adverse effects of opioids, including addiction and respiratory depression. A central theme of his work is the biology of the opioid receptors and, more recently, the identification of non-opioid GPCRs within pain circuits that can be targeted to relieve the aversive, unpleasant quality of pain without engaging the reward pathways responsible for opioid addiction. His team integrates molecular and cellular biology, genetics and multiomics, advanced imaging, circuit tracing, electrophysiology, in vivo recording, opto- and chemogenetic manipulation, and behavioral assays, and has developed structure-guided GPCR-based chemogenetic tools in collaboration with Prof. Bryan Roth for control of neural activity in the peripheral nervous system. His long-term goal is to leverage insights into pain and opioid-sensitive circuits, and into GPCR signaling more broadly, to develop safer analgesics that dissociate pain relief from abuse liability. He has co-founded three companies developing small molecules, including GPCR-targeted compounds, for the treatment of pain and opioid use disorders. Dr. Scherrer's research is published in leading journals including Nature, Cell, Science, and Pain, and has been recognized by awards including the Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award in Pain, the New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Investigator Award, the McKnight Foundation Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award, and the NIH HEAL Initiative Director's Award for Excellence in Research.