Undergrad researchers attend SOUSCC

Undergrad researchers attend SOUSCC

This Year’s Southern Ontario Undergraduate Chemistry Conference (SOUSCC) was held at York University on Sat March 18. There was a total of 127 presentations (Analytical, 21; Bio/Med, 28; Computational, 12; Inorg/Materials, 22; Organic, 32; Phys, 12) from all the universities in Southern Ontario plus Laurentian U and Nipissing U.  

The brilliant undergraduate researchers that represented our Department were:

BRENT ST. ONGE
JOHNNY LUO
JESSE ROPAT
MITCHELL DIPASQUALE
ALEXA DICECCO
ROSE FAYOUMI
ADVAIT DESAI
GREG YOUSIF
MOHAMED HARB
AUSTIN PEACH
JACQUELINE GEMUS
NADIA STEPHANIUK
NATAN VEINBERG
AUSTIN LINDQUIST
MILOSZ BRZOZOWSKI

Faculty attendees: Loeb, Green and Mutus

Two of our students received prizes:

JACQUELINE GEMUS (Schurko Group)- 1st Prize Physical Chemisty
MITCHELL DIPASQUALE (Mutus Group)- 2nd Prize in Bio/Medicinal Chemistry

Congratulations to all!

Submitted by Bulent Mutus, Department Head

WIN.CHEM volunteers work with local high school students

WIN.CHEM volunteers work with local high school students

Since 2014, our department has been running laboratory sessions and department tours for high school students from around Windsor and Essex County - this program is known as WIN.CHEM.  Students participate in interactive laboratories featuring work on cryogens, thermodynamics, chemical reactions and kinetics, combustion, and metals and alloys.  

Our graduate students and undergraduate volunteers make these outreach laboratories possible.  

If you are an undergraduate student in the Chemistry, Biochemistry or Chemistry & Physics programs, and are planning on taking the 59-410 Research and 59-400 Development of Leadership, Outreach and Presentation Skills courses, you can volunteer for this rewarding program.

If you are a high school student or teacher, please contact Prof. Jim Green (jgreen@uwindsor.ca) to arrange a visit to UWindsor to take part in our interactive WIN.CHEM laboratories.  For more information, click here!

Max Nascimento, '18, does some liquid nitrogen demonstrations for students from Villanova High School

Mitchell Dipasquale, '17, discusses miscibility with some students.

Lucas Foster,' 18, and Adan Ahmed, '17, demonstrate the dehydration of sugar with sulphuric acid.

Max Nascimento, '18, is not doing anything illegal here... he is just eating some graham crackers that have been dipped into liquid nitrogen.

Special thanks to all WIN.CHEM volunteers: Chris O'Keefe and David Hirsh (co-coordinators), Cameron Vojvodin, Natan Veinberg, Lucas Foster, Austin Peach, Jacqueline Gemus, Max Nascimento, Brent St Onge, Abbey Nicoletti, Jesse Ropat, Adan Ahmed, Mitchell Dipasquale, and Nadia Stephaniuk.

Special thanks to Chris O’Keefe, David Hirsh, and Stas Veinberg (Ph.D. 2016), who have been instrumental in organizing and running the WIN.CHEM sessions for the past three years.

Nov. 9-11, 2012 - Quebec Ontario Minisympsium in Synthetic and Bioorganic Chemistry (QOMSBOC)

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor is hosting the 23rd annual QOMSBOC (Quebec Ontario Minisympsium in Synthetic and Bioorganic Chemistry) from November 9-11, 2012. The conference will be held on the campus of the University of Windsor.  

The plenary speakers include Dr. Mukund Sibi (North Dakota State University), Dr. Jeff Aube (University of Kansas), and Dr. Carl Decicco (Bristol-Myers Squibb).

We invite both oral and poster presentations for the conference; normally the vast majority of these are from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The deadline for both oral and poster contributions is Oct. 17, 2012. The early registration deadline is also Oct. 17.  

For more information, please see the website for the conference:
http://www.uwindsor.ca/qomsboc/

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/