A PhD student in biology has spent his summer hunkered down in the lab trying to figure out why an anti-nausea drug used by cancer patients might put more stress on breast cancer cells and make them more resistant to chemotherapy.
Lisa Porter
Pupils at St. Anne’s French Immersion School were tickled pink to support cancer research again this year during their annual penny drive, raising $3,488 in copper, and more than $19,000 in total, including government fund matching, since the annual campaign began in 2008.
Students presented the donation to UWindsor representatives Friday during a school-wide assembly. St. Anne’s teacher and penny drive organizer John Dufour said he expects even more pennies to trickle in throughout the month of June.
Apr 17th, 2012
UWindsor biology professor Lisa Porter will provide an update on the state of the battle against cancer in a free public lecture in the Freed-Orman Centre on Wednesday, April 18, at 5 p.m.
A cell biologist, Dr. Porter holds the Assumption University Chair in Cancer Research.
A discussion and refreshments will follow her lecture, entitled “Making Strides in the Fight Against Cancer: What has Research Done for You?”
When the time came to decide what to do with the money her Dragon Boat team had raised, it only made sense to Alexandra Shoust that it should go to a local researcher trying to help find a cure for breast cancer.
“I think the research that’s going on at the University of Windsor is just awesome,” said Shoust, a former captain of A Breast or Knot, one of two local teams made up exclusively of breast cancer survivors. “We thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if a cure, or a key to a cure, was found right here in our community.”
By now most people are aware of the links between smoking and lung cancer, but they probably don’t know that cigarettes may contribute to breast cancer too.
Since August, fourth-year biology student Samantha Richardson has been feeding lab mice a mixture of corn oil, sesame oil and benzopyrene – just one of 50 carcinogenic chemicals found in cigarette smoke – and monitoring the effect on the animals’ mammary glands.
While smoking rates have declined across Ontario to about 19 percent of the general population, young people use tobacco at a higher rate.
UWindsor biology professor Lisa Porter, a cancer researcher, is one of three speakers addressing this issue at Trash the Ash! Cancer Talk 2011: Tobacco, the first in this year’s Schulich Windsor Health Lecture Series. The free public event will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 26, in the Hangar on the St. Clair College campus.