Cannabis has been used over the millennia for therapeutic purposes. It has also been used as the basis for discovering a key biochemical lipid network, the endocannabinoid system. Among the lipid modulators endocannabinoids play a key role. Our current knowledge of the endocannabinoid system includes CB1 and CB2, two Gi/o GPCRs involved in a number of signaling mechanisms. The endogenous molecules that modulate this biochemical system, which include ethanolamides as well as 2-glycerol esters of long fatty acids are represented by arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol …

Alexandros Makriyannis, Ph.D., is the George D. Behrakis Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Makriyannis will also serve as guest editor of the conference proceedings to be published in summer 2017.