Detroit, Mich. Wayne State University is hosting a free monthly forum, “Hot Topics in Molecular Medicine,” dedicated to exploring exciting issues in the branch of medical research that reveals how genes influence – and how they can sometimes be used to treat – disease.

The next Hot Topics session will be on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 4:00 p.m. in Green Hall, Gordon H. Scott Hall of Basic Medical Sciences, 540 E. Canfield Avenue, on Wayne State University’s Medical Campus. Complimentary valet parking is provided at the Detroit Receiving Hospital at the DMC. A discussion and catered reception will immediately follow the lecture.

The upcoming Hot Topics will feature Dr. Allen Jones, Chief Scientific Officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. He will discuss “The Allen Brain Atlas,” a web-based 3-D map of gene expression in the mouse brain that can now provide scientists with a level of data previously unavailable.

Since mice and humans share more than 90% of genes, the Atlas has enormous potential for understanding human neurological diseases and disorders that affect more than 50 million Americans each year, including Alzheimer’s, Autism, Epilepsy, and Parkinson’s. Dr. Jones was instrumental in setting up scientific operations and hiring core teams responsible for the Atlas project. Publicly available at no cost, the Atlas is receiving more than 4 million hits monthly and is being accessed by approximately 250 scientists on any give work day. The comprehensive information provided by the Atlas is leading scientists to new insights and moving the field of neuroscience forward in a dramatic way.
For further information about the lecture, contact: Deirdre Turner at (313) 577-9019 or dturne@med.wayne.edu Directions to the lecture can be found at http://www.drhuhc.org/map/

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world.