Stephen M. Lanier is Associate Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the Medical University of South Carolina, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences, USA, in 1982 and has since been actively involved in research on adrenergic receptors.Lee E. Limbird is Professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, USA, where she also holds the Chair. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina, USA, in 1973 and in 1994 was awarded the Established Investigator Award of the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depressions.