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Often, the ultimate carcinogen is formed withinthe body via biochemical processes followingthe exposure to pollutants found in theenvironment, such as cigarette and industrialsmoke, food additives, dyes and other chemicals(see figure 1 below). A powerful enzyme systemfound mainly in the liver is responsible for theformation of many known carcinogens, asillustrated in the figure below; this is the targetused in our research.Blocking or inhibiting the action of theseenzymes has been directly linked withpreventing the formation of tumours and wehave thus searched for natural products thatare capable of inhibiting such enzymes. Severalclasses of natural products from the plantsPicrasma excelsa, Amyris plumieri, Castelamacrophylla, Esenbeckia pentaphylla andSpathelia sorbifolia, most of which are endemicto Jamaica, have shown potent inhibitionproperties to suggest that they may have cancerpreventive potential.Studies on Anti-Cancer PropertiesIn addition, the impact of natural substancesfrom Jamaican plants on the survival ofliver, colon and breast cancer cells has beeninvestigated by the researchers. In the case ofcolon cancer, one of the identified compoundswas favourably lacking impact on normal coloncells, which is an attractive feature to hold fora potential anti-cancer compound. The coloncancer medicine, 5-fluorouracil has an impacton normal colon cells similar to the impact onnormal cells of many known cancer medicines,which can explain the side effects of cancertreatments. Compounds with selective potencytoward specific cancer cells will make attractiveoptions as medicines. Jamaican naturalproducts thus hold potential for a new lineof treatments with dual properties of cancerprevention and cancer treatment.Scientists at the Natural Products Institute willcontinue their work towards identifying effectivenatural ingredients useful in the fight againstcancer.Work conducted up to now has been published inseveral international journals and presented atlocal and international scientific meetings.Rupika Delgoda is a lecturer specializing inBiochemistry;thejani.delgoda@uwimona.<strong>edu</strong>.jmSimone Badal is a PhD candidate;simone_badal@hotmail.comSheena Francis is a post doctoral researcher;sheena.francis@yahoo.comAcknowledgementsWe are grateful to our collaborators: ProfessorsJacobs, Reese, Jackson, Drs Gallimore, Porter, ofthe Department of Chemistry, UWI, Mona, for theprovision of natural products; Dr Tzeng (ClemsonUniversity, South Carolina) and Dr E. Brantley (LomaLinda University, CA), for helping in mechanismbased cell culture experiments. We are indebted toour financial sponsors: Forest Conservation Fund,the International Foundation for Science (Sweden),Luther G Spear Memorial Scholarship and theUniversity of the West Indies.Nature of the Studies and Further InvestigationsBoth types of experiments were conducted oncells cultured in the laboratory or on subsectionsof the cells maintained in suitable media. Theyare thus termed in-vitro experiments. Like mostin-vitro experiments, they provide an insightinto potential, in an efficient and economicalmanner. Since they are not conducted on whole,living animals (in-vivo experiments), nor onhuman beings, the full biological relevance andscope is yet to be gathered.60 61
R E S E A R C H F O R D E V E L O P M E N T 2 0 1 1SimonMitchellGeological Investigations of Part of theHighway 2000 Mount Rosser BypassThe Highway 2000 Mount Rosser Bypass is setto link the Linstead bypass to Moneague, and cut outthe steep, winding road that passes through Ewarton,Mount Rosser and Faiths Pen on the way to Moneague.The alignment for the road was selected and Bouygueswon the contract to build the road. While the firststretch (about 4 kilometres) and final stretch (about11 kilometres) have been constructed the sectionjoining these two stretches remains incomplete due tounforeseen problems. The problem is directly relatedto the rocks on which the road is being built – arethey solid ‘bedrock’ or landslide deposits. In orderto understand this Bouygues contacted Prof. SimonMitchell in the Department of Geography and Geologyat the University of the West Indies for help.62 63
Page 3 and 4: Contents814182226FACULTY OFHUMANITI
Page 6 and 7: R E S E A R C H F O R D E V E L O P
Page 11: R E S E A R C H F O R D E V E L O P
Page 14 and 15: Industries’ Commitment to Educati
Page 16 and 17: That we are about to enter the 10th
Page 18 and 19: In keeping with its remit to facili
Page 20 and 21: The population movement that has at
Page 26 and 27: F A C U L T Y O FPURE ANDAPPLIEDSCI
Page 28 and 29: It was discovered, after carrying o
Page 30 and 31: The lionfish (Pterois volitans and
Page 34 and 35: Mapping the AreaA major aim of the
Page 36 and 37: Physiological Fluid DynamicsPhysiol
Page 38 and 39: Health Effects of Cell Phone Radiat
Page 42 and 43: F A C U L T Y O FSOCIALSCIENCESDr.
Page 44 and 45: Data collection was mainly through
Page 46 and 47: The research conducted by By Dr. Li
Page 48: • The majority of businesses stat

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