The PNG Office of Higher Education (OHE) recently funded a K200,000 High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to support teaching and research at the University of Goroka.
The University Vice Chancellor Dr Gairo Onagi received the apparatus on behalf of staff and students and launched it this week. The HPLC will boost capacity for research in UOG’s School of Science by using the chromatographic technique to separate components in a mixture, to identify and quantify each component. The installation of the HPLC is part of the School of Science’s 2014 plans to upgrade its laboratoryfacilities, which will assist undergraduate teaching and postgraduate research. The School of Science’s Centre for Natural Resources, Research and Development (CNRRD) has been collaborating with local communities in the Highlands region as well as Australian based Universities to support traditional forms of medicine development. Under CNRRD, a significant amount of research has been carried out by academic staff and postgraduate students recently. Executive Dean of the School of Science, Dr. Basil Marasinghe says, in the year 2013, over 40 scientific presentations have been published or presented in journals and conferences, out of which 15 papers have been published in international journals. There are currently three postgraduate students conducting research leading to Master’s degree in the area of mushrooms. The harnessing of PNG’s traditional knowledge of mushroom cultivation for medicinal use has been boosted with the recent launch of the HPLC. UOG Chemistry Lecturer Stuart Wossa who has just returned from his PhD studies at the Australian National University said: “It is also hoped that research into finding and analyzing anti-biotics from mushrooms will benefit the community in the search of medicinal remedies.” In more infrastructure developments at UOG, last year, equipment worth K100,000 was purchased for the Physics Laboratory while a rotary evaporator worth K50,000.00 was also installed in the Chemistry Laboratory. The School’s Division of Health Sciences & Midwifery will now be using a newly built K7.5 million office and lecturer theatre through support from the now DFAT (formerly known as AusAID). Laboratory facilities of the Division of Agriculture and Rural Development are being improved with help from the New Zealand High Commission. Further infrastructure improvements includes the purchase of an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometerworth K250,000.00. Currently, the PNG Government is considering providing funds to set up a state of the art farm for the Division of Agriculture & Rural Development in Manifo, Eastern Highlands Province. The setting up of this farm will cost nearly K300 million. Part of the School of Science’s aims this year is to up-grade its science laboratories to assist in conducting research, undergraduate teaching, postgraduate student and staff research and address key performance areas in research in PNG. Post Courier Comments are closed.
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