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UPEI researchers garner more than $1-million in grants and scholarships from NSERC
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To UPEI chemistry professor Russell Kerr, the earth’s oceans have enormous potential to provide raw materials for drugs and pharmaceuticals beneficial to human health.
Marine invertebrates, such as corals, jellyfish and worms that have no backbones, are a proven source of new chemicals that often show intriguing and useful biological activities, he says. Scientists have described more than 200,000 species of marine animals with even more still to be discovered; yet, to date, only a limited number of these species have been explored as possible sources of therapeutic agents or “bioactives” as they are known.
For example, studies on gorgonians, a group of corals which live in tropical and subtropical oceans, have yielded a large variety of new bioactive natural products. These include compounds in a group called terpenes, which are valuable for their anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. But the development of these compounds has been hampered by the lack of an available supply, making it difficult to turn a new marine natural product into a commercial product that people can use.
Kerr is one of seven faculty members at UPEI whose research was recognized by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) when the 2008 Discovery awards were announced recently. UPEI received a total of $1,065,600 in grants and scholarships, divided into $841,400 in Discovery grants to faculty members and $224,200 in student scholarships.
With the help of his Discovery grant, Kerr will investigate the development of two complementary production methods of fuscol and fuscosides, a family of potent anti-inflammatory terpenes from gorgonian corals. This project is part of a larger research program that aims to develop a sustainable production method of fuscol and fuscosides that will not damage the environment.
Successful completion of this project will help facilitate the development of a wide range of terpenoid marine natural products that will benefit the health of the Canadian public.
Other 2008 Discovery grant recipients are Dr. Robert Hurta, biology; Dr. Michael Shaver, chemistry; Dr. Maxim Burke, mathematics and statistics; Dr. Cezar Campeanu, computer science; Dr. Balaji Ramanathan, biomedical sciences; and Dr. Don Stevens, biomedical sciences. More than 20 other faculty members currently hold NSERC research grants, which usually run from two to five years.
With annual research expenditures of more than $13.2 million and a growing reputation for research achievement, the University of Prince Edward Island ranks as one of the top ten research-intensive undergraduate universities in Canada.
Marine invertebrates, such as corals, jellyfish and worms that have no backbones, are a proven source of new chemicals that often show intriguing and useful biological activities, he says. Scientists have described more than 200,000 species of marine animals with even more still to be discovered; yet, to date, only a limited number of these species have been explored as possible sources of therapeutic agents or “bioactives” as they are known.
For example, studies on gorgonians, a group of corals which live in tropical and subtropical oceans, have yielded a large variety of new bioactive natural products. These include compounds in a group called terpenes, which are valuable for their anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. But the development of these compounds has been hampered by the lack of an available supply, making it difficult to turn a new marine natural product into a commercial product that people can use.
Kerr is one of seven faculty members at UPEI whose research was recognized by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) when the 2008 Discovery awards were announced recently. UPEI received a total of $1,065,600 in grants and scholarships, divided into $841,400 in Discovery grants to faculty members and $224,200 in student scholarships.
With the help of his Discovery grant, Kerr will investigate the development of two complementary production methods of fuscol and fuscosides, a family of potent anti-inflammatory terpenes from gorgonian corals. This project is part of a larger research program that aims to develop a sustainable production method of fuscol and fuscosides that will not damage the environment.
Successful completion of this project will help facilitate the development of a wide range of terpenoid marine natural products that will benefit the health of the Canadian public.
Other 2008 Discovery grant recipients are Dr. Robert Hurta, biology; Dr. Michael Shaver, chemistry; Dr. Maxim Burke, mathematics and statistics; Dr. Cezar Campeanu, computer science; Dr. Balaji Ramanathan, biomedical sciences; and Dr. Don Stevens, biomedical sciences. More than 20 other faculty members currently hold NSERC research grants, which usually run from two to five years.
With annual research expenditures of more than $13.2 million and a growing reputation for research achievement, the University of Prince Edward Island ranks as one of the top ten research-intensive undergraduate universities in Canada.
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