It is well documented that Jamaica’s vegetable production has been steadily declining for some time now. What is not clear is the exact nature of the main organisms responsible for the consistently poor quality of some of these crops, such as cabbage.

Following on a lead in her laboratory nearly six years ago, one local scientist, Dr Marcia Roye of the Biotechnology Centre at the University of the West Indies, has studied the virus suspected of plaguing Jamaican cabbage.

Last year, her efforts to solve this conundrum received a significant boost when she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct detailed research on two strains of virus affecting cabbage plants grown in Jamaica. The formal title of the study is, ‘Molecular diversity of geminiviruses from Jamaica and the Caribbean.’

While in the United States, Dr Roye will be attached to the International Laboratory for Agricultural Biotechnology, under the supervision of Dr Claude Fauquet at the Danforth Plant Science Centre in St Louis, Missouri. In recommending Dr Roye for the research fellowship, Douglas P Maxwell, Emeritus Professor at the University of Wisconsin, states, “She has achieved considerably more than other scientists in her University and her region of the world with less resources. She has published three papers in highly respected, international scientific journals in plant pathology. It takes dedication and talent to accomplish this.”

Born in Newforest, Manchester, Dr Roye earned her PhD in Biochemistry at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies in 1996, after completing her first degree at the same institution in 1992. Since 1993, Dr Roye has visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison on five different occasions, learning molecular biology techniques important for the development of control strategies for whitefly-transmitted gemini-viruses in Jamaica and the Caribbean region.

She speaks with great pride about her foundation in the sciences gleaned at Hampton High School for Girls in St Elizabeth in the early 1980’s. Responding to questions about the importance of this latest undertaking, Dr Roye enthused, “One of my major goals in life is to show, by example, that science is a viable career option for young people in Jamaica today. It offers many rewards including exciting travel opportunities to interact with other scientists from around the world”.

The Fulbright Research Grant is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US State Department, and administered by the US Embassy’s Office of Public Affairs in Kingston.