DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTRE

The Citrus Replanting Project at the Centre entered its second year in February 2004. The Ministry of Agriculture has awarded US$149,911 for the Citrus Replanting Project: Pathology of Citrus Diseases. The principal investigators are Dr Wayne McLaughlin and Dr Paula Tennant. The three-year project began in February 2003, and is part of a larger project of the Ministry of Agriculture to control citrus diseases in Jamaica.

WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS & CONFERENCES

Dr Paula Tennant attended a Capacity Building Workshop on Biosafety for the Caribbean, which was held January 19-30, 2004, in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The workshop was hosted by the National Institute of Higher Education, Science and Technology and aimed at developing a biosafety framework and regional harmonization of biosafety systems.

Dr Sylvia Mitchell was chosen to participate in the International Network of Centres of Excellence seminar to identify and publish innovative case studies for the development of pharmaceutical products from medicinal plants. The

seminar was held in Trieste, Italy, in February 2004, and sponsored by the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations. As a result of the seminar, a Medicinal Plant Network has been established, and all the research cases presented will be published in a book that is being compiled.

The Yam Research Team at the Centre participated in the International Diabetes Conference held at the Jamaica Grand Hotel, March 4-7, 2004. The group presented two papers and won second prize for the best poster. The poster was entitled "X-Ray Crystallographic and Scanning Electron Microscope Analysis of Starches from Five Yam (Dioscorea spp.) Varieties grown in Jamaica."

Publication

A special issue of the Jamaica Journal of Science and Technology was published by the Scientific Research Council in January 2004. All the articles in this special issue are the work of the Biotechnology Centre.