UNews - John Bain

Cancer-fighting properties of the buffalo bean being investigated by U of L research team

caroline.zentner — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 16:39:23 +0000

Biology professor and cancer researcher Dr. Roy Golsteyn may have found the building blocks to a new cancer-fighting drug — and it was growing in the prairie landscape outside his ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge lab all along.

Golsteyn says the need for new cancer drugs is constant and, as a scientist who’s worked in the pharmaceutical industry, he knows some of the best drugs come from plants.

Alessandra Bosco, a master's student, harvests a buffalo bean plant from the coulee slopes at the U of L.

Dr. Sophie Kernéis-Golsteyn, fellow researcher and married to Roy, was the principal investigator in a study that examined extracts of the buffalo bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia) for anti-cancer effects.

“In the lab, the buffalo bean showed anti-cancer activity right away,” says Golsteyn. “Because it was such a great candidate, we were able to identify how we think the buffalo bean will be able to stop cancer cells. We predict it will limit cell growth by inhibiting an enzyme that’s needed for some types of cancer cells to grow.”

Pharmaceutical companies have identified which types of cancers depend on the enzyme and they’ve developed synthetic compounds to inhibit it. However, the synthetic compounds aren’t performing the way researchers hoped they would.

“Now, here’s a natural plant compound that appears to do what an oncologist would like it to do. So, were we lucky? Absolutely, but you have to look first to be lucky and that’s why Alberta plants are so interesting — no one has really ever looked,” he says.

Golsteyn’s lab is currently working with Pierre Fabre Laboratories, a French pharmaceutical company with expertise in natural products chemistry, to do further analysis to identify the chemical compound that gives the buffalo bean its cancer-fighting properties.

“Together, we hope to know precisely what the chemical is and then a decision can be made whether this is valuable medicine or not. Even if it doesn’t work as we hope, then we’ll learn something and if it does work, we’ll see how far it goes. It would be quite nice if our little area in Alberta can give rise to a much-needed cancer drug,” says Golsteyn.

At the request of Pierre Fabre Laboratories, Golsteyn and his team recently harvested 10 kilograms of buffalo bean plants growing on ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ property under the watchful eye of Dr. John Bain, a biology professor and director of the U of L’s herbarium, to ensure the harvest was done in a sustainable fashion. After the plants have been dried and processed, they’ll be shipped to France for further analysis.

After the French lab purifies compounds from the buffalo bean, Golsteyn’s lab conducts further tests. Depending on the results, both research partners decide whether the compound can be further developed as an anti-cancer drug.

“I want to thank people who donate to charities like the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge because those funds have helped us undertake this important research,” says Golsteyn. “It has also given us opportunities to train the next generation of cancer scientists here in Lethbridge.”

The U of L’s unique location may yield other cancer-fighting plants as well. Golsteyn’s team is also looking at another flower that is a member of the sunflower family. Animals won’t eat this flower and First Nations recognized it as traditional medicine. Previous research has shown the plant is toxic to cancer cells and Golsteyn and his team of researchers want to know why. The plant has gone through a battery of tests in the lab and the results show promise. A natural product chemist at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia is conducting detailed analysis of the plant compounds.

“We’re very excited about it,” says Golsteyn, adding a publication on the results should be forthcoming sometime this year.

He also invites community members, including ranchers, to contact him if they know of other interesting plants.

Coulee plant publication a collaboration between library, faculty and community

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:31:28 +0000

A locally-produced book detailing the coulee plants of southern Alberta has been given new life and a new medium thanks to collaborative work between the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library, U of L faculty and the local community.

The 2nd edition of Common Coulee Plants of Southern Alberta is now available.

Dr. John Bain, in the U of L's Department of Biological Sciences, along with local botanist June Flanagan, recently published a 2nd edition of Common Coulee Plants of Southern Alberta. The book is free to download from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Institutional Repository.

Originally published in 1972 by professor emeritus Job Kuijt, the first edition of the book identified over 120 local plants and included short descriptions and simple line drawings for each plant, organized by flower colour.

The 2nd edition of Common Coulee Plants includes several updates, such as a new electronic format and current scientific plant names to accompany the familiar common names. Colour photographs, taken by author, photographer and botanist Flanagan, appear alongside the existing line drawings and can be enlarged to reveal greater detail, which is extremely useful for plant identification.

The EPUB format of the book offers many advantages to typical print including ease of navigation, an interactive table of contents and hyperlinked lists of plants arranged by flowering time or colour for efficient cross referencing.

“The book can be loaded on your cell phone or tablet and therefore takes up little or no additional space when you head out on the coulees to check out the spring flora,” says Bain.

EPUB files can be read using many common software applications including Google Books, iBooks, Overdrive and web browser plug-ins, however a .pdf file is also available through the Institutional Repository.

A look at the page featuring the great blanketflower.

Managed by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, the Institutional Repository is a secure space for scholarly output such as articles, books, book chapters, statistics or numerical data, photos and more. Items in the repository are freely accessible to the public and searchable in various locations including the library catalogue and Google, which increases both visibility and discoverability.

"Since the content in institutional repositories is freely available as part of the Open Access movement, depositing scholarly output in a repository contributes to the global free flow of information,” adds librarian Marinus Swanepoel.

Already viewed/downloaded over 200 times, a launch celebration for Common Coulee Plants of Southern Alberta will take place in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library on Tuesday, April 15 at 3 p.m. on level 10.

For information about depositing your scholarly output into the U of L Institutional Repository contact your subject librarian or email library.irepository@uleth.ca

Library brings Herbarium to life

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:40:58 +0000

For more than 30 years, botanists and botany students have been visiting the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge to study a unique collection of more than 20,000 preserved plant specimens from Waterton Lakes National Park and environs. Now, thanks to a partnership between Herbarium collection curator Dr. John Bain in the Department of Biological Sciences and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, these invaluable specimens have been digitized and will soon be widely available via the Internet.

The majority of the Herbarium's specimens date from the 1970s and 1980s.

"In 1982, former ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Job Kuijt's A Flora of Waterton Lakes National Park was published – after which he deposited in the Herbarium all plant specimens he collected and pressed during his documentation of the flora," says Bain. "It was this abundant and diverse flora found in Waterton Lakes National Park that was, in part, the reason for the park's designation as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1979 and a World Heritage Site in 1995."

Unlike other materials the library has previously digitized, pressed plants pose a slightly different challenge due to their relative fragility and the fact that the specimens must remain on-site in the Herbarium. To facilitate the digitization process, specialized equipment was purchased and located in the Herbarium. Quinn Daviduck, a summer research assistant, was hired to create high-resolution digital images for each and every plant specimen in the collection.

The next step in the process is to catalogue and describe each specimen using appropriate metadata (e.g., locational data, flowering times, ecological and distribution data) in order for the content to be more effectively searched or browsed online.

"In undertaking this project," says Bain, "the library is ensuring that an important natural history collection housed at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will join similar collections around the world in being widely accessible."

An official launch of the Herbarium Digital Collection was held on Monday, Dec. 19 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library.

For more information, contact Associate ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian, Information Systems & Technical Services, Wendy Merkley at wendy.merkley@uleth.ca.

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Long service awards and honoured retirees

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:27:38 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ recently honoured 83 employees at the annual Long Service Awards and Retirement Recognition Ceremony.

Employees who have completed 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service, as well as 18 retiring employees were all honoured at the ceremony.
Following is a list of those employees.

Retirees
Lynn Arnold, Judith Droessler, Eileen Ferguson, Peter Haney, Marilyn Hawryluk, Helen Henderson, Beatriz Housley, Luke Kwong, Ian McKenna, Linda Nicol, Ron Perverseff, Terry Prociuk, Lorraine Schimpf, Hiroshi Shimazaki, Helen Smith, Sara Stanley, Johnel Tailfeathers, Marie Yolland

Long Service Recipients

40 Years | Michael Kubara and Frank VandenHeuvel

35 Years | Lynne Brown, Gary Cunningham, Rose Helmer and Barbara Wolstoncroft

30 Years | Doris Kostiuk and Wendy Vogel

25 Years | Doran Anderson, Deb Bullock, Hank DeRidder, John Federkeil, Carol Gaetz, Ken Nicol, Stewart Rood, Linda Sebastian, Penny Secretan, Jerzy Szpakowski and Guy Vervoort

20 Years | John Bain, Allan Besplug, Craig Bullock, Cynthia Chambers, Helena Danyk, Lisa Doolittle, Marty Gadd, Andrew Hakin, David Kaminski, Luke Kwong, Judy Lavorato, Ian MacLachlan, Edward Malinsky, Duane Rockerbie, Gloria Samuels, Michael Stingl, Carrie Takeyasu, Pat Tanaka, Barb Thomsen, Gitte Villiger, Kathleen Willms, Shelly Wismath and Sajjad Zahir

15 Years | Jim Booth, Teresa Heyburn, Joan Kendall, Rob Kern, Richard Lutwick, Ron Schreiber, Terri Thomas, Nicholas Wade and Judith Whitehead

10 Years | Andrea Amelinckx, John Bronk, Adam Carter, Yllias Chali, Margaret Cook, Robert Cooney, Dennis Fitzpatrick, Fred Greene, Shauna Haag, Geoffrey Hale, Susan Hill, Shahadat Hossain, Charlene Janes, Harold Jansen, Randy Joseph, Edward Jurkowski, Catherine Kingfisher, Laurie Martin, Cathy Newman, Margot O'Donnell, Steve Patitsas, Michele Roberts, Chris Robinson, Debi Sandul, Stephane Simard, A. William Smith, Mike Spiteri, Stuart Thomas, Dawn-Ann Thys, Edwin Wasiak, Cheryl Wheeler and Jim Wills

Long service awards, Wednesday

trevor.kenney — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:52:19 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is holding its annual Long Service Awards and Retirement Recognition Ceremony on Wednesday, May 6, beginning at 1 p.m. in the Students' Union Ballrooms. A total of 83 employees who have completed 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service, and 18 retiring employees will be honoured at the event.

All employees are invited to the ceremony and reception to honour the award recipients listed below. The reception will include light refreshments.

Retirees

Lynn Arnold, Judith Droessler, Eileen Ferguson, Peter Haney, Marilyn Hawryluk, Helen Henderson, Beatriz Housley, Luke Kwong, Ian McKenna, Linda Nicol, Ron Perverseff, Terry Prociuk, Lorraine Schimpf, Hiroshi Shimazaki, Helen Smith, Sara Stanley, Johnel Tailfeathers, Marie Yolland

Long Service Recipients

40 Years

Michael Kubara and Frank VandenHeuvel

35 Years

Lynne Brown, Gary Cunningham, Rose Helmer and Barbara Wolstoncroft

30 Years

Doris Kostiuk and Wendy Vogel

25 Years

Doran Anderson, Deb Bullock, Hank DeRidder, John Federkeil, Carol Gaetz, Ken Nicol, Stewart Rood, Linda Sebastian, Penny Secretan, Jerzy Szpakowski and Guy Vervoort

20 Years

John Bain, Allan Besplug, Craig Bullock, Cynthia Chambers, Helena Danyk, Lisa Doolittle, Marty Gadd, Andrew Hakin, David Kaminski, Luke Kwong, Judy Lavorato, Ian MacLachlan, Edward Malinsky, Duane Rockerbie, Gloria Samuels, Michael Stingl, Carrie Takeyasu, Pat Tanaka, Barb Thomsen, Gitte Villiger, Kathleen Willms, Shelly Wismath and Sajjad Zahir

15 Years

Jim Booth, Teresa Heyburn, Joan Kendall, Rob Kern, Richard Lutwick, Ron Schreiber, Terri Thomas, Nicholas Wade and Judith Whitehead

10 Years

Andrea Amelinckx, John Bronk, Adam Carter, Yllias Chali, Margaret Cook, Robert Cooney, Dennis Fitzpatrick, Fred Greene, Shauna Haag, Geoffrey Hale, Susan Hill, Shahadat Hossain, Charlene Janes, Harold Jansen, Randy Joseph, Edward Jurkowski, Catherine Kingfisher, Laurie Martin, Cathy Newman, Margot O'Donnell, Steve Patitsas, Michele Roberts, Chris Robinson, Debi Sandul, Stephane Simard, A. William Smith, Mike Spiteri, Stuart Thomas, Dawn-Ann Thys, Edwin Wasiak, Cheryl Wheeler and Jim Wills

UNews - John Bain

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