Biology professor William Crosby received a seed grant from the Windsor Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation for his research into the regulation of cell division and DNA repair.
Controlling the abundance of specific proteins at different times in the life of a cell is important to its function, and can contribute to the development of cancers when that regulation is lost or altered, says biology professor William Crosby.
His research project into regulating enzymes is one of three to share grants totaling $218,325 from the Windsor Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation.
“Understanding how these protein degradation processes can be turned on and off will provide valuable insight into the regulatory mechanisms involved,” Dr. Crosby says. “It could potentially lead to the development of new approaches that target key protein turnover functions imporant in human cancers.”
He joined fellow UWindsor professors Maher El-Masri (nursing) and Alioune Ngom (computer science) Wednesday in accepting their grants from the Seeds4Hope program, which has awarded almost $1.5 million to local researchers in the six years since its inception.
Michael Dufresne, the program’s administrator, says that even in this relatively short span, Seeds4Hope funded research is playing a significant role in advancing cancer care in the community.
“It is important to understand that each of the 21 excellent, innovative, peer-reviewed research projects supported by Seeds4Hope over six competitions is a work in progress,” he said. “Its success potential will only be fully realized in its future application to benefit our children and grandchildren.”
Seeds4Hope was established in 2009 to provide seed funding for innovative research or new, innovative approaches to existing cancer research being conducted by local scientists. The program utilizes a rigorous expert peer-review process adopted by all nationally and internationally recognized granting agencies.