Foundation funding to support natural compound research

Providing a catalyst for positive change in the world is the operating principle of the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation. Widely-known for supporting a broad range of philanthropic projects, the foundation has just approved $80,000 in research funding for biochemistry professor Siyaram Pandey’s project, Evaluation of anti-cancer effect of various compounds against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

According to foundation chair Jesse Rasch, Dr. Pandey’s research into natural compounds in the fight against cancer is the type of work the organization has a mandate to support.

“I am an entrepreneur and I look at investing in research in the same way my company looks at investing in start-ups and venture capital,” Rasch says. “We provide seed money for interesting ideas that will hopefully be able to attract the larger grants once there is proof of concept to be able to fund clinical trials. We do what we can to get things kick-started.”

Rasch says a media article about Pandey’s dandelion root research caught the attention of the foundation and falls in line with other natural compound research they support.

To read the full story on the Daily News, click here.

There is also a Windsor Star story, that can be linked to by clicking here.

Chem Prom - May 2

Chem Prom happens:

Fri. May 2, 2014
Galileo Hall, Caboto Club
Doors open at 7 pm

Dinner, drinks and dancing!
Come shake off the winter chill!
Tropical dress optional!

Tickets are $30

See Corey, Zainab (Rm 276), Gyllian (Rm 268), Natalia (Rm 386-1) or Marlene (Rm 273-1) for tickets!

SOUSCC 42 @ UWindsor

The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Windsor welcomes undergraduate students from across Ontario to the 42nd Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference on Saturday, March 29, 2014.

This conference provides an opportunity for undergraduates to present and discuss their research, to meet other chem students from across the province, and to interact with academic and industrial researchers.

For more information, visit the SOUSCC web site:

http://souscc.cs.uwindsor.ca/

Pot Luck lunch: celebrating St. Patrick's Day and the arrival of spring!

Join us for Chemistry and Biochemistry’s

POT LUCK 2014

(A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people may contribute a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group.)

To celebrate: St. Patrick’s Day/Spring

When: Friday, March 21st, 2014, 12:00 noon-1:30 p.m.

Where: Conference Room, 273, Essex Hall

Students, Staff & Faculty Welcome

$2 DONATION AT DOOR

If you have a favourite dish you would like to bring, see Marlene or Cathy, or sign the sign up sheet in office!

Chemist discovers shellfish material that may help prevent algal blooms

Chemist discovers shellfish material may help prevent algal blooms 

Harmful algae blooms like the massive one that afflicted Lake Erie in 2011 are a serious threat to our waterways, but a chemistry researcher and his industrial partners are testing a new method of filtering agricultural wastewater with the help of an unexpected material: ground up shrimp and lobster shells.

Chitosan is a material made by treating crushed shellfish with sodium hydroxide, and professor Bulent Mutus is discovering that various forms are effective in lab tests at removing micronutrients, phosphates and metals like copper, zinc, and iron from greenhouse wastewater.

“There’s an inexpensive and plentiful supply of these materials, and we’ve been able to prove in concept that this can work,” said Dr. Mutus. “Now we’re just trying to scale it up in to an actual working filter that we can test in the field.”

Algal blooms are the result of an excess of nutrients, including nitrates and phosphates from household products and fertilizer used in agricultural and recreational settings, running off land into streams and rivers that drain in to warmer lakes. A large bloom could remove the water of oxygen fish and other aquatic wildlife need to survive.

To read more of this story, click here to see the full article on the Daily News.

Public lecture to shine light on x-ray crystallography

Public lecture to shine light on x-ray crystallography

X-ray crystallography can determine the arrangement of atoms in materials and make three-dimensional pictures of molecules— more than 25 Nobel prizes have been awarded on the basis of its use.

In honour of the centennial of the first Nobel prize awarded for this remarkable tool, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography.

UWindsor chemistry professor Charles Macdonald will explain how X-ray crystallography works and illustrate some highlights discovered using this method in a free public lecture entitled “X-Ray Crystallography: A Century of Exploring the World at the Atomic Scale,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 19, at Canada South Science City.

This amazing avenue of discovery underpins major advances in physics, chemistry, material science, biology, medicine, engineering, and more. Dr. Macdonald’s lecture is sponsored by the Faculty of Science as part of the Science Café series, which offers discussion of important science research for the general public.

Click here to see the original story on the Daily News.

Red Hot Chili Peppers….

…are often added to the chilis found at the

The 2nd Annual Chili Cook Off takes place on Friday, February 14, 2014 in 273 Essex Hall, and is open to all students, staff and faculty!

See Marlene in the main office if you would like to register for this great event!