Student researchers inspired by legacy of cancer patient

Every morning when they go to work in their Essex Hall biochemistry lab, Ph.D. students Pam Ovadje and Dennis Ma get an inspirational reminder of why they’re there. Mounted on the door to that lab is a plaque dedicating the space to the memory of Kevin Couvillon, who died at the age of 26 in November 2010, after a three-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

Last week, Ovadje, Ma and other graduate students from the lab of professor Siyaram Pandey met with Couvillon’s parents to give them an update on their research into how such natural products as dandelion root extract and pancratistatin – derived from a Hawaiian spider lily plant – cause certain cancer cells to effectively commit suicide.

After an emotional presentation in the Toldo Health Education building on what would have been Kevin’s 28th birthday, his father Dave discreetly handed Dr. Pandey a cheque for $20,000 to help fund the research, bringing the total the family has donated to the lab to $40,000. It was gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by the students.

Read more of this story here on the Daily News.

Holiday Party Extravaganza!

The Chem Club announces it's nth annual Holiday Party Extravaganza!

Where: Rock Bottom Bar and Grill

When: Thursday Dec. 8, 2011

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $5.00

Ticket includes a drink and appetizers!

Contact Chris (367 EH), Corey (372-3) or Marlene (273-1) for tickets!

Researchers in Chemistry and Biochemistry receive Seeds4Hope funding

Congratulations to Professor James Green, who was awarded a Seeds4Hope grant to develop compounds that have shown early success killing cancer cells.

Excerpt from the Windsor Star article:

“As a chemist, you’re so used to having long hours of work without immediate rewards, that you often think, ‘I better not hope too much,’” Green said Monday after collecting a grant to continue his research for two more years. “But so far, I’m delighted. I really hope it leads to something.”

On Monday, Green’s project was awarded $67,000 over two years by Seeds4Hope, funded by the Windsor & Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation. Also collecting research grants from Seeds4Hope on Monday were University of Windsor professors Andrew Swan, who will use $63,000 over two years to probe tumour-suppressing functions of cancer genes, and Panayiotis Vacratsis, who will use $76,000 over two years to investigate a possible link between a specific tumour growth and survival.

To read more:

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Protein+killer+holds+promise+cancer+cure/5635023/story.html#ixzz1cVCsZgZj

In addition, Prof. Otis Vacratsis was awarded $76,000 for his proposal: Functional Characterization of hYVH1/DUSP12: A Putative Oncogene Overexpressed in Late Stage Cancers. This research project focuses on investigating a new cell survival enzyme (hYVH1), that has recently been implemented in both cell growth and division, and has been found to be over productive in many aggressive, late stage cancers.

To learn more about our department, visit http://www.uwindsor.ca/chemistry.

Click the professors' names above to visit their websites.

See also: http://www.ourwindsor.ca/2011/11/206k-goes-to-local-cancer-research-projects/

Ultra-fast magic-angle spinning NMR probe up and running

Prof. Rob Schurko's NMR group has recently taken delivery of an ultra-fast magic-angle spinning NMR probe, which will be used for acquiring high-resolution 1H NMR spectra of a variety of different materials, including solid pharmaceuticals. The probe was purchased for ca. $110,000 using funds obtained from an NSERC RTI (Research Tools and Instruments) Grant.

To read the Daily News story on this amazing probe, click here!

Aaron Rossini awarded Governor General's Gold Medal

Congratulations to Aaron Rossini, who was awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal for top standing as a graduating Ph.D. student at the University of Windsor. Aaron worked in Prof. Rob Schurko's solid-state NMR research group; he has 11 peer-reviewed publications and 31 academic presentations at local, national and international conferences. He was awarded a Marie-Curie Fellowship, and is currently working at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon, France, in the research group of Prof. Lyndon Emsley. His wife, Erin, who has a degree in oenology, is currently working at a vinyard in Provence; they are both enjoying their time in France.

To read about how Erin and Aaron met, click here to read the Daily News Story.

Scholarship Deadlines for Graduate Students and PDFs

New information is available on our scholarships page including deadlines, weblinks and application processes for all graduate scholarships, including:

NSERC

CIHR

SSHRC

OGS

and more!

Click here or contact Marlene Bezaire (graduate secretary) for more information.

Introductory NMR workshop, Oct. 13-14, 2012

The NMR faciltiy is offering an Introductory Workshop for incoming Graduate Students and Outstanding Scholars on Thursday October 13 and Friday the 14th, 2011 from 1 until 4 pm each day. Please note that this is the week of the Thanksgiving Holiday and most lab sessions are cancelled that week.

This introductory workshop is geared toward undergraduate students and/or graduate students with limited (or no) NMR experience, but who are expected to make use of the NMR spectrometers as part of their research projects. The workshop is meant as a supplement to the "one on one" training that new students receive and will allow an opportunity to go into greater depth on many topics. The schedule will consist of a lecture to start each day followed by hands-on learning sessions where participants will get the opportunity to make NMR samples as well as to collect and process NMR data.

The topics covered include:

How an NMR spectrometer works

NMR Magnet Safety

Preparation of NMR Samples

Set up of 1D 1H and 13C NMR Experiments

Processing and Presentation of NMR Data

The link to register is on the NMR Facility Web site.

The workshop is free of charge to members of the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry; however, enrollment is limited, so please register soon!

Matthew Revington

NMR Facility Coordinator,

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of Windsor

519-253-3000 Ext 3997