KINGSTON,
Jamaica, Tuesday November 13, 2012 – A team from the Mona Campus of the
University of the West Indies (UWI) has won the Minister’s Innovation Awards
for 2012 for its pioneering treatment for high blood sugar and high blood
pressure.
The
“ Novel Treatment Against Hyperglycemia and Hypertension” was adjudged as likely to be the most
significant in its effect on the scientific and technological world and topped
a field of 177 entrants in the awards competition developed by the Ministry of
Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.
The
team comprising Dr. Lisa Lindo of the Biochemistry Department, Dr. Trevor Yee
of the Natural Products Institute, and Professor Paul Reese of the Chemistry
Department, also received the Champions ‘Innovator of the Year’ trophy and a
cheque for two million dollars (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.04 cents).
In
addition the treatment also won the Health and Wellness category, earning the
team a further J$750,000.
“This
is a great feeling,” said Dr. Lindo explaining that the team used the
eucalyptus plant in their experiment and found that extracts were doing better
than some popular drugs now in use to lower hypertension and blood sugar.
She
said they were in the process of patenting the drug and looking forward to have
it produced as a supplement to be taken orally.
“It
is really great because now I am thinking that we can look into more research,
more into folklore medicine. We know that everybody looks into drinking these
plants but we don’t really know what is in these plants causing the effects, so
now we have now proved, in this case, what is really in it and what it is good
for,” she added.
The
UWI team shared the spotlight with a group of students from Sutherland Primary
School in St. James, who won the Youth Award for their Sutherland Quick Patch,
which is designed to fill potholes. They received a one million dollar cheque
and a trophy.
Distinguished
Jamaican-born chemist, Professor Bert Fraser Reid, who has done ground breaking
research into the chemistry of sugar, addressed the awards function encouraging
the entrants not to give up if even if they were not successful on the fist
occasion.
The
Minister’s Innovation Award was being staged for the fourth time since its
introduction in 2005. It is aimed at nurturing a culture of creativity and
stimulating or catalyzing innovation through the application of science and
technology to drive economic growth and wealth creation.
Energy
Minister Phillip Paulwell, said he was pleased that after a brief hiatus, the Ministry
has once again begun to salute the achievers and innovators in a spectacular
way. He pledged that the competition will be held annually.
Stating
that the country’s development will soon be judged on the number of patents
registered annually, he said that “we are going to get our youngsters in
schools to …focus now on the sciences (and) to stop thinking that these are
hard subjects.
“We
need more Mathematicians, we need more Chemists, we need more Physicists… it is
in these areas that we have opportunities that we are going to exploit.” (CMC)
Source:
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/jamaica_news/633921.html#ixzz2CBxC4aIX
No comments:
Post a Comment