Dr. Jena presents at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm

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A Wayne State University School of Medicine faculty member recently gave an invited presentation at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Bhanu Jena, Ph.D., the George E. Palade University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Physiology, presented “Porosome-mediated cell secretion” at the institute Sept. 9.

Bhanu Jena, Ph.D.

The institute’s Nobel Assembly, consisting of 50 professors of various medical specialties, awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Dr. Jena is a pioneer in modern cell biology who has made landmark contributions greatly affecting animal biology and human medicine. He made the pioneering discovery of a new cellular structure called the porosome, the universal secretory machinery in cells, and elucidated its structure, chemistry and function.

Cell secretion is a fundamental life process involved in neurotransmission and the release of hormones and digestive enzymes. Defects in cell secretion result in numerous debilitating diseases including growth defects, diabetes, neurological disorders and digestive diseases. Thirty years of studies by Dr. Jena led to the discovery of the porosome.

In recent years, Dr. Jena's laboratory has developed Differential Expansion Microscopy, and new and novel approaches to understand the energetics of single biological molecules as they interact with other molecules, including ions, capable of revealing the structure-function of proteins at the single molecular level and its use in detection of pathogens, disease and therapy.