Palm Coast City Council approved transferring a $1 million forgivable loan and a $1.5 million grant to Jacksonville University to help establish an education center in Palm Coast.
The Palm Coast Observer, a Jacksonville Daily Record sister publication, reported the approval was made March 2.
The university will build-out a 6,000-square-foot space in an existing building to create classrooms, labs and office space.
The grant and loan also will be used to provide for 20-30 staff members at an average annual salary of $67,000; technology resources; and marketing and recruitment support.
The Flagler County site will be the first campus outside Jacksonville in the institution’s 86-year history.
Laali writes that his patent, which is for Novel ‘Curcuminoid-Inspired’ Synthetic Compounds as Anti-tumor Agents, “discloses the synthesis and characterization of structurally diverse libraries of curcumin-inspired compounds and reports on their anti-tumor activity against a host of cancer cell lines. Through these studies, he and his research group synthesized and characterized over 120 new compounds and in the process discovered a number of ‘hit-compounds’ that are effective not only in stopping cancer cell growth but also killing cancer cells and are therefore suitable for pre-clinical development.”
The next step is extensive testing.
“It’s very costly, something that needs to be done outside of UNF,” Laali said. “I’ve basically taken it as far as it is possible at this time.”
Credit: University of North Florida
Dr. Kenneth Laali, University of North Florida Presidential Professor of Chemistry, has recently been awarded a US patent for his research on the synthesis of novel curcumin analogs (curcuminoids) to fight cancer tumors.
The compounds that Laali has developed provide novel therapeutic opportunities for specific cancers and may also aid in the discovery of therapeutics for multiple diseases.
His patent on Novel Curcuminoid-Inspired Synthetic Compounds as Anti-tumor Agents discloses the synthesis and characterization of structurally diverse libraries of curcumin-inspired compounds (CURs), and reports on their anti-tumor activity against a host of cancer cell lines. Through these studies, he and his research group synthesized and characterized over 120 new compounds, and in the process discovered a number of hit-compounds that are effective not only in stopping cancer cell growth but also killing cancer cells and are therefore suitable for