avacado

By Shannon Mustard

            New support from the Cancer Research Society is helping advance research by three University of Guelph faculty members—Profs. Marc Coppolino, Jim Petrik and Paul Spagnuolo—to prevent and treat leukemia, breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Spagnuolo, Department of Food Science, and his team of graduate students are studying how food-derived molecules could treat leukemia.

Their study began five years ago, when they discovered that a fat compound, Avocatin B, in avocados could help reduce the growth of leukemia cancer cells.