Three UWindsor researchers won two-year grants totalling $233,500 as seed funding to support new projects, the Windsor Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation announced Wednesday.

Biochemistry professor James Gauld will analyze which mutations in cancer-related proteins such as tuberin are capable of forming cancer, a study that ultimately could allow researchers and clinicians to make more informed decisions about combination therapies that are most likely to yield successful results in patients with these mutations.

Biology professor Phillip Karpowicz will test how colorectal cancer is affected by day-night cycles, specifically whether these cycles elevate colorectal cancer risk, and if maintaining normal sleep cycles can help prevent it, a study that in the long-term should help predict the optimal times of chemo and radiation therapies for colorectal cancer as well for many different cancers.

Biology professor Lisa Porter will examine the role of a cancer-related protein discovered by the Porter lab (Spy1) that appears to play a role in the progression of the most common liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, a study which introduces a genetic component that may ultimately serve as a valuable diagnostic indicator or a target for therapeutic intervention that would advance care for all patients with HCC.

The funding makes a total of almost $1.7 million awarded to local cancer researchers through the Seeds4Hope grant awards program since its inception in 2009. Administrator Michael Dufresne said the investment will show its value in the future application of results.

“But the potential for future success in the long term can be measured in the short term by monitoring several indicators of progress such as publications, collaborations, and clinical trials,” he said. “From these indicators, it is clear that Seeds4Hope funded research is playing a significant role in advancing cancer care in our community and beyond.”

A November 30 forum on the UWindsor campus will explore approaches to documenting and evaluating teaching used in Canada and around the world.

Provost Douglas Kneale, who will host the event, hopes it will attract faculty and staff with a diversity of opinions and experiences.

“The goal is to open up a conversation about what we value in teaching, and how we recognize effective teaching,” he says. “We want to explore whether and how teaching evaluation achieves the range of purposes it serves efficiently, fairly, and in ways that do the most good for students, instructors, and learning.”

Colleges and universities across the country are grappling with this challenging topic, Dr. Kneale says. The forum will help inform the campus community about approaches used at other institutions and offer participants an opportunity to explore future possibilities here.

Participants will spend the day exploring some of the research on teaching evaluation as well as the perspectives of people in a range of roles, from faculty who have led teaching evaluation initiatives, to those involved in promotion and tenure committees, to early career and highly experienced faculty members, to the student perspective.

The event will also showcase efforts of campus educators to develop new ways to gather, analyze, and reflect on evidence about teaching effectiveness, both for professional development and for career advancement.

Erika Kustra, acting director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, is helping to organize the forum. She says it will prove thought-provoking: “The highly interactive formats involved will provide many avenues for participants to explore new information and share their views.”

There are limited spaces still available for the forum. Register online at https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/workshops/ctl/91/.

A visiting lecturer from Keele University will deliver two public presentations next week sponsored by the Faculty of Nursing. Sue Read is a professor of learning disability nursing in Keele’s School of Nursing and Midwifery.

She will speak on “Research involving vulnerable populations” on Wednesday, November 4, in the atrium of the Medical Education Building. The event is aimed at students in health-related programs: nursing, medicine, social work, disability studies or kinesiology.

It begins at 4:30 p.m. and will offer a light meal. Those wishing to attend must RSVP by October 29 at http://uwindsor.fluidsurveys.com/s/DrRead/.

She will address a broader audience in her lecture “Living in the shadow of grief: Bereavement and loss support for people with a learning or intellectual disability,” Monday, November 2, at the Hospice of Windsor. The hospice is located at 6038 Empress Street and this event, which begins at 5 p.m., also features a meal. RSVP to registration@thehospice.ca.

The Faculty of Nursing has an additional partnership with Keele University. Its Queen Elizabeth II Scholars program involves an exchange experience. Learn more on the program website.

When’s the last time you backed up your computer? If that question scared you, the Campus Bookstore has a soothing offer: reduced prices on external hard drives that will enable you to save your data before something really scary happens.

It promises savings of $25 to 60 on a variety of devices with two to four terabytes of storage as its True Savings Thursday special for October 29.

The Campus Bookstore is located on the lower level of the CAW Student Centre.

University employees are reminded to bring their children (or grandkids) to Vanier Hall’s Winclare C room at 6 p.m. tonight—Thursday, October 29—for Boo at the U, a friendly pre-Halloween organized by Residence Life staff and members of the RezEvents student committees.

Little trick-or-treaters will each receive their own treat bag, then make the rounds to activity stations for games, crafts and creepy candy. All children must be accompanied by a parent.

Admission to the event is free, but attendees are invited to bring a canned good for donation to the Iona College student food bank. Organizers extend thanks to campus union locals CUPE 1393 and Unifor 2458 for their monetary support to the annual event.