Articles by author: Brock University

• Brock scientist’s patented compound is turning out to be a cancer killer

  Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 22 March 2017 – R00062
   
  A leading Canadian scientist has developed a synthetic compound that appears to be capable of killing cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.
   
  Brock University chemist Tomas Hudlicky has created and patented several variations of the compound pancratistatin, which has been tested on 20 different types of cancer cells by a research team at the University of Windsor. The team’s paper, “Cancer Cell Mitochondria Targeting by Pancratistatin Analogs is Dependent on Functional Complex II and III,” appeared in the February issue of Scientific Reports.
   
  Scientists have known for some time that pancratistatin (PST), a substance found in the spider lily, causes cancer cells to die. But the low rate of natural production (a kilogram of spider lily produces less than 2 mg of PST) is a major challenge to research and clinical advancement.
   
  Hudlicky is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in biocatalysis — the use of biological methods to manufacture chemicals — and one of North America’s top organic researchers. His previous breakthroughs in green chemistry have led to more efficient and environmentally conscious ways to create synthetic versions of morphine and other natural drugs.
   
  He has spent more than 25 years researching PST’s chemical structure and constructing molecules that had similar structures and functions.
   
  “The aim is to make the new and active derivatives available for the manufacture of anti-cancer drugs,” says Hudlicky, a Professor of Chemistry at Brock.
   
  A key part of the construction of new drugs involves manufacturing what are known as “unnatural derivatives” of natural compounds such as PST or narciclasine, a congener of PST that is more available from natural sources. These derivatives are available through chemical synthesis from Hudlicky’s laboratory. What Hudlicky and other chemists do is to artificially enhance a natural compound’s properties through synthesis of derivatives.
   
  The Windsor research team found that Hudlicky’s PST derivatives target a cancer cell’s mitochondria, a structure within a cell responsible for respiration, energy production and cell apoptosis (or programed cell death). Current cancer treatments tend to attack DNA in both cancerous and healthy cells, but mitochondria is specific to each cell and can therefore be more precise as a target.
   
  Hudlicky says it’s still not clear how and why PST brings about cell death, but said some of the new synthetic derivatives made in his laboratory “are actually more potent and more bioavailable than the natural compounds.”
   
  ‘Bioavailability’ measures how much of a substance such as a drug is absorbed into a living system and how quickly it is absorbed.
   
  Hudlicky is continuing with research on discovering and manufacturing anti-cancer compounds that can be used in drugs to treat the disease. With funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and a Canadian pharmaceutical company, he is developing derivatives of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, some of which are isolated from daffodils and snowdrops.
   
  Hudlicky has also formed a partnership with McMaster University chemistry professor James McNulty to develop more compounds that can be used in effective cancer treatment, efficient pro-drug design, and other commercial uses.
   
  McNulty has developed techniques for the isolation of naturally occurring compounds in high yield and also semi-synthesis from natural intermediates and total synthesis of selected alkaloids. In addition to the discovery of compounds that exhibit potent anticancer activity, the Amaryllidaceae framework has allowed the discovery of congeners with potent and selective antiviral activity, for example to herpes viruses (HSV-1 and VZV) and one of the most active compounds reported to date against the Zika virus.
   
  McNulty and Hudlicky together have more than 50 years of experience in the isolation, synthesis and modification of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids. The discovery of other valuable biological activities is under active investigation including many other biomedical and agrochemical applications.
   
   
   
  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
   
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970
   
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  Categories: Media releases

• World Water Day: Brock prof says reclaimed wastewater is one answer to shortages

  Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 21 March 2017 – R00061

  Research by Brock University Professor of Economics Diane Dupont has shown that reclaimed wastewater can be a reliable source for water that is more resilient to climate change fluctuations.

  This alternative method for water supply is the theme of World Water Day on Wednesday, March 22 with UN-Water encouraging the population to reduce and reuse wastewater rather than leaving it untreated to pollute the environment and go to waste.
  After the collection, treatment and disinfection, subsequent uses of wastewater include flushing toilets, agricultural irrigation and cooling of buildings.
  Dupont’s study, “Water use restrictions or wastewater recycling? A Canadian willingness to pay study for reclaimed wastewater,” established that a large proportion of Canadians are willing to consider the use of reclaimed wastewater in these instances.
  “These results indicate that Canadian consumers are aware of the value of wastewater for uses they find acceptable, and are willing to include wastewater as part of their household water supply as a means of more consistent water flows,” says Dupont, Director of the Water Economics, Policy and Governance Network (WEGPN). “This finding underscores how water utilities and other water managers can incorporate reused water feasibly.”
  A new study, “Canadian Water Attitudes,” confirmed Canadians value our water and see our lakes and rivers as a vital part of national identity; but the study also revealed a troubling carelessness with our most valuable resource.

  Canada is a water-rich country with seven per cent of the world’s reliable flow of freshwater and many of the world’s largest rivers. But the country still faces a number of significant water-related challenges, including the steady rise of water shortages and reduced reliability of traditional water supplies due to climate change.
  Reusing water has been recommended as a way to mitigate the increasing challenges on the water system caused by seasonal shortages and droughts.
  Dupont’s most recent book co-edited with the late Steven Renzetti, Water Policy and Governance in Canada, marks a major contribution to related research approaches to issues of water governance and management in Canada, and includes research from several Brock researchers, including Timothy Heinmiller, Associate Professor of Political Science and WEGPN researcher. 
  “Canadians tend to take water for granted, most of the time; but, when water resources are threatened, water becomes highly salient and intensely political,” says Heinmiller. “Some of the most protracted political conflicts in Canada have been about water, particularly in water scarce areas like the southern Prairies.”
  In his recently published book, Water Policy Reform in Southern Alberta, Heinmiller explores how water is allocated among competing uses in one of the most water-scarce areas of Canada.

  The WEPGN is a Canada-wide research initiative that has been headquartered at Brock since it was founded in 2012. The network connects researchers and partners to facilitate meaningful and urgent research into the social, economic and political dimensions of water and develop new knowledge to improve the management of water resources in Canada and abroad.
   
  For more information on World Water Day and recycling water, visit worldwaterday.org.
   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
   
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases