Subscribe to UWI NewsroomCARIGEN Launches New Suite of Services
CARIGEN, the innovative DNA-testing facility at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus is expanding the suite of services which it will be able to offer in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Effective May 2009, the company will be offering two new tests: DNA-based pre-natal screening, to test for genetic disorders in the unborn child, and DNA-based testing for three of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV),Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea .
Details of the new services were provided by Chief DNA Analyst at CARIGEN, Mr. Compton Beecher at a press briefing held at the UWI, Mona Campus on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Mr. Beecher said that the new range of services would allow CARIGEN to use one screening test to determine whether the unborn child suffered from genetic disorders such as Down’s Syndrome, Edwards and Patau syndromes as well as Turner and Klinefelter Syndromes. The new test will be more affordable and faster than tests now being used, and would have the same level of accuracy.
He added that CARIGEN would also be offering additional diagnostic tests for sexually transmitted diseases. In addition to introducing the tests for HPV and Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea, the unit also plans to offer testing for two other sexually transmitted diseases: Herpes Simplex Virus and Trichomonas.
Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Dr. Wayne McLaughlin explained that CARIGEN currently operated as an independent forensic laboratory in the Department, providing paternity testing services to eleven local diagnostic companies. Additionally, services are provided to 13 laboratories across the region, in countries including Antigua, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grand Cayman, Grenada, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. He noted that the diagnostic services which CARIGEN provides are determined by feedback from doctors and laboratories to which it provides services.
Dr. McLaughlin noted that the Department of Basic Medical Sciences will also be introducing an MSc Forensic Sciences programme in 2010. The four areas that will be initially offered are Forensic Pathology, Forensic Toxicology, Forensic (DNA) Molecular Biology and Forensic Chemistry.