Lisa Porter

UWindsor biologist to address Earth Day dinner

UWindsor biology professor and award-winning cancer researcher Lisa Porter is the featured guest of the eighth annual Earth Day Dinner, a fundraising event for Canada South Science City, on Wednesday, April 17.

In her talk, Living Forever: Stem Cells and Cancer—How are they Linked?, Dr. Porter will discuss what stem cells are, how they are involved in cancer, and what that means for future treatments.

Cancer researcher to take icy lake plunge tomorrow

Lisa Porter is well aware of how cold it’s been this week, but is doing everything in her power not to think too much about it. She’ll need all the mental fortitude she can muster when she plunges into the icy waters of Lake Erie tomorrow to help raise money for a children’s cancer support network.

“I’ve been avoiding looking at it,” the biology professor and cancer researcher said when asked if she’s looked at the weekend’s forecast. “I’m not sure I want to know.”

Researchers unite in fight against cancer

Scientists at the University of Windsor will join forces with Windsor Regional Hospital and the region’s health care community to create a united research group that aims to find new ways of treating and curing various forms of cancer.

No single cure for many varieties of breast cancer, researcher says

Because there are so many different types of cancer there will never be a single cure for them, but researchers have made significant advances in fighting the disease on an individual basis, according to Lisa Porter.

“If you think about it, 60 years ago we didn’t even know what cancer was,” said Dr. Porter, an associate professor in Biological Sciences who devotes much of her lab time to studying the mechanisms that cause cancer cells to divide and grow.

St. Anne’s students show small is mighty during penny drive to support research

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.

Lecture to provide update on cancer research

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?”

Dragon Boat racers help support UWindsor cancer research

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.”

Undergrad researcher studies link between smoking and breast cancer

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.