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University of Windsor
Pandey lab gets boost from Knights of Columbus
A group of philanthropists got a first-hand account yesterday of how their donations are being used by researchers here in the battle against cancer.~
Members of the Knights of Columbus Branch 9671 dropped off a $6,000 cheque Thursday to support the work of biochemist Siyaram Pandey, bringing the total amount the Catholic service club has donated to the lab to date to $26,000.
Dr. Pandey and his students gave club members a tour of their lab and a progress report on their research, but also had the opportunity to express their gratitude to the group.
"You motivate and enrich us so that we can give back to the community that supports us," said Katie Facecchia, a master's student in Pandey's lab.
Pandey said that it wasn't so long ago that his lab was struggling to secure funding, so donations from the K of C provided a great deal of inspiration.
"This relationship has been tremendous, not just for the financial help, but for the motivational boost that it's given us," he said.
Masters student Sudipa Chatterjee and doctoral candidate Carly Griffin told the group that their experiments with a variety of compounds such as pancratistatin, tamoxifen, curcumin—and even dandelion root extract—have demonstrated promising results in halting the growth of certain cancers cells and tumours and that several of their research papers have recently been accepted for publication in academic journals.
Dean of Science Marlys Koschinsky and Phil Dutton, head of chemistry and biochemistry, both drew attention to the importance of nurturing relationships with community partners and noted that in addition to delivering quality research, the university is producing highly trained individuals such as the students in Pandey's lab who will be the scientists and cancer researchers of the future.
"You just know that these people are going to be going on to bigger and better things," Dr. Dutton said.
Knights of Columbus member Alan Stewart looks at some samples in a microscope while graduate student Sudipa Chatterjee explains the Pandey lab's research to K of C members, from left, Michael Trepanier, Rick Macdonald, Ron Gauthier and Len Jennings.