Local leaders have praised agricultural research at Northern Caribbean University, a Seventh-day Adventist institution, and want to fund more programs there. The news came during the opening of a four-day Inventors, Researchers and Entrepreneurs (IRAE) trade expo and convention held at NCU’s Mandeville campus.

“We have seen where there is important research being done at this university on the appropriateness of sorrel—a bulb used to make a Jamaican beverage—for cancer,” said Audley Shaw, a member of Jamaica’s parliament. Shaw wants the Jamaican government to appropriate 5 million Jamaican dollars (approximately US$105,000) for the school to research an agricultural blight that is impacting the island’s ginger crop.

Dr. Audia Barnett, executive director of the Scientific Research Council of Jamaica, or SRC, has highlighted the work of researchers at NCU in developing health products from natural foods.

“I … congratulate NCU for the marvelous work being carried out by your research team, utilizing various nutraceuticals with powerful health potential,” said Barnett.

The SRC chief noted that the development of health products from traditional foods or plants was a worldwide trend. “This is expected to have significant implications,” she said, “for the growth of sustainable industries, impacting positively on income-generating activities and employment opportunities.”

NCU scientists have demonstrated that a compound in garlic, allicin, can inhibit or repress the growth of proteins in cancer cells, according to a local press report. This research, conducted by Christian Nwaukwa, a molecular biologist at NCU, along with Drs. Paul Gyles and Juliet Penrod, research supervisors, has been accepted for publication in an “international scientific journal,” according to the Sunday Gleaner, the island’s leading newspaper.

The 84-year old NCU, which is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has built up an impressive tradition of scientific research. Shaw’s funding advocacy comes in light of the background of recent research by Dr. Paul Gyles, head of biology, chemistry and medical technology at NCU, in the use of sorrel, as well as garlic, to fight cancer.

Shaw said he was impressed by the trade expo and convention, organized by NCU and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, because it helped promote local business.

Some 70 exhibitors and experts in several disciplines participated in the expo and convention held at the university’s gymnatorium April 5 to 8. Industry and tourism minister, Aloun Assamba, opened the event while her colleague, Phillip Paulwell, minister of commerce, science and technology delivered the keynote address.