-in partnership with Greater Guyana Initiative
The University of Guyana, in partnership with the Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), yesterday launched two cutting-edge molecular laboratories.
The event took place at the Hogben-Drayton Math and Science Building, Turkeyen Campus.
The two labs – a Medi-cal Diagnostics Laboratory within the College of Medical Sciences and a DNA Barcoding Labora-tory under the Faculty of Natural Sciences’ Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity – represent a major step forward in the capacity for medical diagnostics and biodiversity research. These facilities will contribute to advanced healthcare solutions and the preservation of Guyana’s rich biological diversity, aligning with the University’s commitment to national development.
GGI comprises the three oil companies operating in the Stabroek Block.
Professor Paloma Mohamed, Vice Chancel-lor of the University of Guyana (UG), in her remarks noted, “The facilities that we are about to launch this afternoon have been dreams of those faculties, and we are seeing them as a reality today. It took us a long time to get the equipment in the country because we could not have sourced them here. These two important labs are there, not only for us to map, understand, study, store, and share internationally as well, what we know about these things in Guyana but also to affect how they impact life.”
The specialized equipment was estimated to cost $87 million. The initiative, made possible through a five-year funding grant with the support of the GGI, enables the Univer-sity to conduct DNA testing and virus scanning for research purposes.
The assistant dean in the College of Medical Scienc-es, Martina McKenzie, stated, “We now have the ability to train our students to do in-house testing. We can train our students to offer that service to our community and it also strengthens the health care that we are able to provide beyond what we can do here in the university.” She said that the university is going to “hopefully” become a centre of excellence on genetic studies and molecular biology.
The collaboration between oil companies ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC is aimed at fostering sustainable growth in the region.
