For years, students at the University of Guyana have expressed the urgent need for better-equipped laboratories, particularly in the medical and natural sciences departments. On Tuesday, two state-of-the-art facilities were launched—the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory and the DNA Barcoding Laboratory—at the University’s Turkeyen Campus.
These labs are set to address critical gaps in the country’s healthcare and research infrastructure. Previously, advanced testing required samples to be sent to international labs, which often led to significant delays in diagnoses and hindered biodiversity research. With the launch of these new facilities, Guyana takes a substantial step forward in both healthcare and environmental conservation.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Dr Paloma Mohamed, opened the event by acknowledging the longstanding demand for such facilities.
“While we had the technical expertise, the impact of not being able to trace, track, and identify diseases in-country was deeply concerning,” she explained. Mohamed shared how delays in testing and diagnoses, due to reliance on international laboratories, motivated the University to pursue this initiative.
“The initial conversation about these labs was driven by a simple question: how could we bring together the technical human expertise and the infrastructure needed to diagnose and track diseases right here in Guyana?” Mohamed said. “These labs will allow us to do just that—not only for COVID-19, but for many other illnesses and conditions that affect our population.”
In addition to healthcare diagnostics, the DNA Barcoding Laboratory will be instrumental in advancing the study of biodiversity.
Director of the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity, Dr Gyanpriya Maharaj was a key driver behind the establishment of this lab. In her remarks, Maharaj passionately articulated the lab’s critical role: “When you think of biodiversity, you don’t just think of the intrinsic worth of every living thing on Earth. You think of biodiversity as something that supports all processes on Earth, whether it’s the bees and the butterflies that pollinate our food or the plant extracts we’ve been using to cure diseases.”
Maharaj further elaborated on how essential it is to study biodiversity from different perspectives.
“To truly understand biodiversity, we must do it on three levels: the ecosystem level, where everything is connected, the individual species level, and the genetic level.” Reflecting on the past challenges researchers faced, she pointed out that much of the genetic research required sending samples abroad for analysis. “For the little bit of work that’s been done on the genetic level, it usually just entails us collecting the samples and sending them to a lab abroad,” Maharaj explained.
“This created a black box in science for us. Often, when the specimen left our hands, it was analyzed abroad and then came back with a name—often a new name to science because of our rich biodiversity—but our local researchers were stumped as to what happens in between.”
“These labs will now ensure that our researchers and our students have the ability to not just understand what happens in between, but to be able to do that science on their national resources,” she stated.
One of the aspects of this new facility is its ability to unlock Guyana’s vast biodiversity potential. Maharaj offered an example of how DNA barcoding had led to groundbreaking discoveries elsewhere:
“We’ve all been reading about the Clearwing moth that hitchhiked all the way to Wales—new species to science,” she said. “Not only were they able to use DNA technology to determine it was a new species, they were able to look at its relationships to other Clearwing moths, and even tell what plant the larvae were feeding on. And they did all of this with DNA technology, which we now have on campus.”
She emphasized that the lab would not only contribute to identifying new species but would play a crucial role in conservation.
The new Medical Diagnostics Laboratory will also allow for quicker detection of diseases, reducing the reliance on foreign testing services. This is expected to drastically improve healthcare outcomes, as patients will no longer have to wait for international labs to process their samples
Assistant Dean of the College of Medical Sciences, Dr Martina McKenzie highlighted the impact of the new lab on student training. “This is the first time we’re actually going to have a medical lab for use for our students. For many years, we have been training them on the theory of molecular biology, and it is difficult for them to grasp, especially not having that practical aspect to it to help along with their memory and their application,” McKenzie said.
She further explained how the new lab would improve local healthcare: “Now we can train our students to offer that service to our community. It also strengthens the healthcare that we’re able to provide beyond what we can do here at the University of Guyana, but when we send our students there to work in these laboratories, in these hospitals, the expertise that they will leave here with would benefit this country tremendously.”
The launch event also recognised key collaborators, including representatives from the Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), ExxonMobil, and other international partners, who contributed to the funding and development of these state-of-the-art laboratories.
As the laboratories open their doors, the university is poised to become a hub for medical and environmental research in the region. With quicker diagnostic capabilities and enhanced biodiversity research tools, the University of Guyana said it has positioned itself to play a critical role in addressing some of the nation’s most pressing healthcare and environmental challenges.
