AMRIC receives $25,000 donation for cancer research

The Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada (AMRIC) has received a $25,000 donation from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation to purchase two pieces of equipment for cancer research.

The donation will allow AMRIC to buy an automated colony counter and a spiral plater inoculator, which in addition to cancer research, are used for vaccine development and investigating infectious diseases.

“This equipment will enhance the research we do at AMRIC and is what you would expect to find in a cutting-edge research lab,” Dr. Franciso Diaz-Mitoma, CEO and scientific director of AMRIC, said in a release. “Not only has this donation validated the importance and value of research in Greater Sudbury, it will also have a positive impact on the care we provide to patients.”

Willard Garfield Weston, and his wife, Reta, created the W. Garfield Weston Foundation in the 1950s with their shares in the family company, George Weston Limited.

Weston Limited is one of Canada’s most successful companies, and includes Weston Foods and Loblaw Companies. Donations from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation are directed to organizations in the fields of education and land conservation, together with science in Canada’s north. In addition, the foundation provides funds to further Canada’s research in neuroscience.

“We’re very pleased to receive this donation from such a prestigious organization as the W. Garfield Weston Foundation,” said Keith Bullock, chair of the Health Sciences North Foundation board of directors, in a release.

“People I talk to tell me they understand the importance of investing in research being done here in Sudbury. Whether it is by creating new vaccines, fighting cancer, or developing new models of care for our seniors,it is through these donations that we are able to turn medical science into front-line medical care.”