The CS Mott Center for Human Growth and Development at Wayne State University School of Medicine continues to mark 50 years of research that saves and improves lives.
The year-long celebration kicked off with an open house and facility tours on June 9. More than 70 people attended the event, which included remarks from Dean of the Wael Sakr School of Medicine, MD; Vice President of Research Stephen Lanier, Ph.D,; Gil Mor, MD, Ph.D., John M. Malone Jr., MD, Endowed President and Scientific Director of the CS Mott Center; and Stanley Berry, MD, acting chair of obstetrics and gynecology.
Visitors learned about the center’s basic and gynecological cancer research and toured the facility’s labs to learn about cutting-edge research being done, and mingled at a reception.
Dean Sakr spoke about the future of research and the role played by the Mott Center.
“In terms of Wayne State’s accomplishments in certain research pursuits, the Mott Center is definitely one of the most self-sustaining,” he said. “There is a diversity of research on human growth and development, male and female infertility, and the human sperm microbe using pioneering research. They all complement each other and really extend to collaborations with many other entities.
The centre, which opened in 1973, is an internationally renowned research facility established to promote research training relating to women’s and children’s health, with a focus on reproductive biology, immunology , oncology, toxicology and prenatal medicine. Its scientists integrate basic, translational and clinical research with the goal of improving women’s health.
“I had known about the Mott Center for many, many years in my career,” Dr. Mor said. “I knew it was an amazing place and I hope it will be. This has impacted the community and the field of obstetrics and gynecology in many ways.
This work continues, Dr. Mor said, while training future generations of medical researchers, both in the labs and as part of the Discovery to Cure program. The Discovery to Cure Program is a high school internship created by Dr. Mor at Yale University in 2003 with the goal of providing high quality life science research experience to qualified high school students by exposing them to careers in biomedical research. In 2019, with the appointment of Dr. Mor as director of the CS Mott Center, he launched the program in Detroit, with the first group of interns welcomed in the summer of 2021.
Located at 275 E. Hancock in Detroit, the center championed a lifespan perspective to reproductive health and an ecological approach to growth, development, and well-being. Its faculty is committed to a personalized approach to medical treatment and care. The main mission of the Mott Center is to promote basic and clinical biomedical research on reproduction and development. It offers an integrated doctoral program integrating the teaching, research and physical resources of the Department of Physiology and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The program offers interdisciplinary doctoral training in reproductive sciences.
The center was renovated during a five-phase reconstruction from 2001 to 2008. In addition to the laboratories and offices of individual obstetrics and gynecology researchers, the center houses the research laboratories of the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch Implantation Laboratory, NICHD Intramural Research Division, Wayne State University Genomics Facility, a bioinformatics center and a systems biology section. It also contains one of the clinical research areas of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The center, in conjunction with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, also created the Ovarian Cancer Research Interest Group. The group seeks to bring together scientists and doctors working in the field to merge the individual expertise of each researcher in order to quickly find solutions to deal with the disease.
The event included visits to laboratories and the Clinical Research Center, led by Dr. Sobel. Laboratory presentations were given by research group leaders including J. Richard Pilsner, Professor and Robert J Sokol, MD, Chair of Molecular Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Molecular Genetics and infertility; Jayanth Ramadoss, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology and physiology; and Ayesha Alvero, MD, M.Sc., professor of obstetrics and gynecology.
Upcoming events as part of the 50th anniversary celebration include:
Discovery to Cure Graduation – August 19
Michigan Alliance for Reproductive Technologies and Sciences Symposium – September 16
Colloquium – April 2023
50th anniversary celebration – June 2023
Gala – June 2023
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