Monday January 27, 1997 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INTERNET FORUM HUM-MOLGEN LOGS FOUR THOUSAND SUBSCRIBERS,
ANNOUNCES MIRROR SITE AT ROCKEFELLER U.
The Human Molecular Genetics Network is proud to announce that HUM-MOLGEN, its electronic mailing list, has just added its four thousandth subscriber. This electronic list, which is the primary
worldwide means for electronic exchange of information among researchers and others interested in human molecular genetics, now has subscribers from 64 different countries and more than 500
academic, commercial and government institutions.
In addition, HUM-MOLGEN's world wide web site will now be more easily accessible by North and South American users through the opening of a mirror site at the Sun workstation computer of the
Rockefeller University in New York City. HUM-MOLGEN's current site hosted by the University of Rostock Germany has also been upgraded.
The Human Molecular Genetics Network, which was founded by Dr. Arthur Bergen of the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute in the Netherlands and Frank S. Zollmann of Rostock University two
years ago, has experienced explosive growth in its mailing list, which at this time last year had 1700 subscribers. In addition, the world wide web site, which, among other achievements, is now the
foremost source in the world for genetics-related job listings and the tables of contents of genetics journals, is presently hosting over 1,000 visitors a day. The network is run by a voluntary consortium of
editors in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Singapore, and the United States.
"The truly amazing thing about HUM-MOLGEN," says Dr. Bergen, "is that a researcher or doctor anywhere in the world can virtually instantly ask for a consultation from thousands of possible sources.
Just last week, we had a doctor from Belgium post an inquiry about the genetics of a rare disease and within a day we had responses from the U.S., Great Britain and Israel. Another inquiry from Brazil
was responded to from Poland. And because most of our responses don't actually get posted to the entire mailing list, those are only the responses we know about."
HUM-MOLGEN counts many of the best known researchers in the world among its subscribers. One of them, Dr. Victor McKusick of Johns Hopkins University and editor of Mendelian Inheritance in
Man recently said of HUM-MOLGEN, "It is terrific, a very valuable service"
E-mail: HUM-MOLGEN at nic.surfnet.nl
WWW: http://www.informatik.uni-rostock.de/HUM-MOLGEN/http://linkage.rockefeller.edu/hum-molgen/
For further information please contact:
Dr. Arthur Bergen, Phone: 020-566-4598, Fax: 020-691 6521 (the Netherlands);
Hans Goerl, Phone: (301)733-0800, Fax: (301) 739-8020 (USA);
Frank S. Zollmann, Phone: +49 30 8445-3901, Fax: +49 381 458-2005 (Germany).
