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January 14, 2003

Spring Toxicology Seminar Series begins Friday

The 2003 Spring Toxicology Seminar Series at the University of Louisiana at Monroe will begin Friday, January 17, at 2:00 p.m. in Room 351 in Sugar Hall.

Seminar speaker Dr. Mansukhlal C. Wani, one of the pioneers in pharmacognosy (the study of medicinal compounds from nature) will inaugurate the 2003 Spring Toxicology Seminar Series.

Dr. Wani is the Principal Scientist at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina. Dr. Wani and associates were the discoverers of paclitaxel (Taxol), an anticancer drug, now clinically used widely. Dr. Wani isolated Taxol from the Pacific yew tree in the late 1960's and reported its structure in 1971.

Today, Taxol is used for the treatment of refractory ovarian cancer, metastatic breast & lung cancers, and Kaposi's sarcoma.

In 1966, prior to the discovery of Taxol, Dr. Wani, with his colleagues, also reported the discovery of camptothecin. Currently first generation analogs of the compound are used for the treatment of ovarian and colon cancers.

The seminar is open to all. It is sponsored Kitty DeGree Endowed Chair in Toxicology.

A digital picture of Dr. Wani is available upon request from Public Affairs.

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