[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Burnstock_Geoff.jpg” caption=”Dr. Geoffrey Burnstock will discuss purinergic signalling at the 2007 Daniel Perey public lecture on May 30. “]The 2007 Daniel Perey public lecture will feature Dr. Geoffrey Burnstock, who will discuss Purinergic Signalling: Past, Present and Future.

Burnstock's talk will focus on the discovery, early scientific resistance, acceptance and rapid developments of purinergic signalling.

It is now recognized that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an aco-transmitter in nerves in both the peripheral and central nervous systems and that purinoceptors are expressed by many non-neuronal cell types as well as nerves.

Therapeutic developments involving interactions between basic science, clinical medicine and the drug industry will be considered.

The public lecture will be held on Wednesday, May 30 at 5 p.m. in the Health Sciences Centre, Room 1A1. Admission is free. For more information, please e-mail khough@stjosham.on.ca. or call 905-522-1155, ext. 35284.

One of the most eminent neuroscientists of the day, Burnstock received The Royal Society of London Queen's Gold Medal in 2000.

Formerly Head of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at University College London, since 1997, he has been the Director of the Autonomic Neuroscience Insititute at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.

He tops the Institute of Scientific Information's (ISI) list of the most cited scientists in Pharmacology and Toxicology for the period 1994-2006.

Burnstock completed a BSc at King's College London and a PhD at University College London. He held postdoctoral fellowships with Wilhelm Feldberg (National Institute for medical Research), Edith Bulbring (University of Oxford) and C. Ladd Prosser (University of Illinois).

His major research interest has been autonomic neurotransmission and he is best known for his seminal discovery and definition of P2 purinergic receptors, their signaling pathways and functional relevance.