WORKSHOP TO ENHANCE SCIENCE, RESEARCH OPENS AT UCC (PAGE 11, OCT 30)

A TWO-WEEK workshop on multispectral light imaging microscopy for applications in agriculture and biomedical diagnosis has opened at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The workshop which is being attended by participants from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali and Senegal, and sponsored by the International Science Programme (ISP) of Uppsala University, Sweden, is aimed at enhancing science and research by equipping the various universities of the participating countries.
The equipment will be used on some biomedical or agricultural samples.
In her welcoming address, the Vice-Chancellor of the UCC, Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, commended the (ISP) of Uppsala University for initiating the programme which covers electronics, laser optics, spectroscopy, image processing computer programming and statistical analysis data to the doorsteps of laboratories of developing countries.
Professor Naana Opoku-Agyemang appealed to ISP to consider Ghana and Senegal as centres of excellence for their programme for the benefit of the sub-Saharan region.
She said the two centres had shown maturity in the use of such equipment for research work and graduate training with positive results.
She urged participants to take advantage of the programme to enhance science and research in their respective countries.
The Project Leader for Ghana, Professor Paul Kingsley Buah-Bassuah said the project was to help train young scientists from deprived developing countries and help them to get equipment of modest cost to do their training at their various home countries.
He said the UCC had been able to train five M.Phil and one PhD. students under the project.
He expressed hope that the School of Physical and Biological Sciences of UCC would institute such a research scheme to make science real at the colleges of education to benefit basic schools.
The Head of Optometric Department, Dr Alfred Owusu, who chaired the function, commended the participating countries and the Swedish government for the project.