Wayne State University School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Physiology Bhanu Jena, Ph.D., will present the lecture "Discovery of the Porosome: Secretory Nanomachine in Cells" on Nov. 14 to faculty and students in Harvard University's Boylston Hall in Cambridge, Mass.

The lecture is hosted by the Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association.

Dr. Jena, the George E. Palade University Professor, is responsible for the 1997 discovery of the porosome, a cellular structure demonstrated to be the universal secretory portal in cells. The structure has been found universally present in all cells, confirmed via multiple imaging modalities, investigated by many laboratories and discussed in several textbooks, including the "Boron-Boulpaep Medical Physiology Textbook."

He received his doctorate in Endocrinology, and the Research Excellence Award from Iowa State University, in 1988. Following postdoctoral training at Iowa State and Yale universities (1989 to 1994), Dr. Jena joined Yale as an assistant professor. He arrived at the WSU School of Medicine in 2000, and is founder and director of its Institute of NanoBioScience.