Undergraduate student Faran Rashid wants to know if local mushrooms could be the basis for a future brain cancer treatment.

Rashid earned a two-year studentship from the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada to study the cancer-fighting properties of wild BC mushrooms. He’s is the first UNBC student to receive this studentship, valued at $10,000 over the summer of 2015 and 2016.

“This studentship aims to develop research to find new drugs that will be more effective at dealing with brain tumours,” he says.

Rashid began working with mushrooms during the 2014-15 academic year as part of an independent study. With the help of supervisor Dr. Chow Lee he applied for and received the studentship to further his research and look specifically at whether mushroom compounds can kill brain cancer cells.

Rashid is using different solvents to first extract crude fractions from mushrooms. Any mushroom fractions which show promising results in killing brain cancer cells, will be further purified and studied.

The studentship is funded in the memory of Taite Boomer of Edmonton.