Dr. Roth and his colleagues are engaged in drug discovery and synthetic biology research. He directs the NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program and the NIMH- funded National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group (UNC-Duke-Pfizer). Dr. Roth studies particularly the structure and function of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), a large and diverse family of proteins encompassing more than 1 percent of the genome. GPCRs couple to multiple intracellular signaling pathways, and currently more than 50 percent of approved medications target GPCRs. The ultimate goal of his research is to find ways to treat psychiatric disease using GPCR-based therapeutics.

Before joining UNC, Dr. Roth was with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.