UG to get critical Molecular, Genetic Lab next year

The University of Guyana (UG) will be adding critical laboratory facilities to its Turkeyen campus in the new year, representing a new dawn of modernised learning for students in the faculties of science.
Making this announcement on Friday, Vice Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin shared that a new Genetics Lab will allow the Biodiversity Centre to collect and store samples properly, allowing for efficient genetic sequencing of local species.
Sharing the importance of such, the Vice Chancellor underscored, “Now, this lab is going to help them to genetically sequence all the species. Technically, what this means is that should something catastrophic happen, we have potentially the ability to regenerate and certainly to save and understand the species or the species in the country. So that’s very, very significant, we’re going to launch that January.”
The College of Medical Sciences will also benefit from two modern laboratories. For some 30 years, medical students did not have the opportunity to utilise a Skills Lab, which allows them to practice on plastic mechanical models. This is expected to change.
“We couldn’t get it for 30 years. And this project also has given the university its first one,” she added.
Also, the College of Medicine has a new Molecular Lab, allowing for sequencing and other critical procedures to be done. Mohamed-Martin outlined that when the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, samples had to be taken out of the country to be sequenced, despite having capable human resources at UG.
“We had the people who knew how to sequence so we didn’t have the equipment. We couldn’t do it ourselves. And I think exactly the difference between life and death for many people in the very beginning…And as we know predictions for the future are that there will be many other infectious diseases, chronic and other diseases that we will need to be able to understand and work on as the nation’s university,” Mohamed-Martin realised.
The Molecular Lab in the College of Medical Sciences will be the second such facility in the country. These projects are being funded under the Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI).
Last month, the sod was turned for a new building to house the University of Guyana’s College of Medical Sciences, a facility which will open spaces for more students to be admitted into the institution’s medical programmes every year. The new structure to the tune of US$4.9 million will be constructed through funding from the World Bank and the Guyana Government.
Spanning two floors, the concrete building will sport a 200-seat theatre, fully-furnished labs, classrooms, anatomy rooms and research facilities.
At that time, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony had zeroed in on the massive expansion of the health sector with specialty and regional hospitals, thereby creating a need for more health professionals. (G-12)