The Department of Life Sciences

Education

• PhD Candidate Microbiology - The University of the West Indies St. Augustine (2018-Present)
• M.Phil Candidate in Microbiology - The University of the West Indies St. Augustine 
• B.Sc. (Hons) – Double Major in Biology and  Environmental and Natural Resource Management - The University of the West Indies St. Augustine (2012 - 2015) 

   

Project Details

Work Experience

• Research Associate, The University of the West Indies (2019 – Present)
• Demonstrator, The University of the West Indies (September 2016 - present)        
• Invigilator, The University of the West Indies (December 2015, and May, July 2016)       
• Environmental Health and Safety Unit trainee, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure (June-September 2014 and June-September 2015)   

Peer-reviewed journal articles published

1. Ali, Omar, Adesh Ramsubhag, and Jayaraj Jayaraman. 2019. “Biostimulatory Activities of Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract in Tomato and Sweet Pepper Crops in a Tropical Environment.” PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216710.
2. Ali, Omar, Adesh Ramsubhag, and Jayaraj Jayaraman. 2018. “Ascophyllum nodosum (Linnaeus) Le Jolis seaweed extract improves seed germination in tomato and sweet pepper under NaCl-induced salt stress.” Tropical Agriculture. 95 (Special issue 2):141-148

Supervision of research students

1. Madhavi Dookie (M.Sc. Biotechnology)- Effect of seaweed extracts on flowering in tomato.
2. Taylor-Marie Ramdin (M.Sc. Biotechnology)- Effect of seaweed extracts on crops grown under aeroponics, aquaponics and hydroponics systems.
3. Shivana Narine (M.Sc. Biotechnology)- Identification of potential plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for use in integrated disease management
4. Nyzal Poy Wing (M.Sc. Biotechnology)- Novel nanoparticle discovery for sustainable crop management practices.
5. Christianne Zakour (ESST 3004 Capstone Project) - Study of bacterial flora associated with mobile phone screens in UWI
6. Videsh arjoonsingh (ESST 3004 Capstone Project) - Indoor air quality testing via microbial enumeration
7. Aquila Malcolm (ESST 3004 Capstone Project) – Enumeration of coliforms and pesticide-resistant bacteria on surfaces of vegetable crops including, tomato, sweet pepper and lettuce.
8. Andrea Redoy, Dana Samaroo, Daniel Halliday, Shamika Woods (BIOL 3162) - Composting of Sargassum spp.

Projects

1. Research involved in utilizing Trinidadian seaweeds to develop formulations for crop production
2. Composting of Sargassum for crop production
3. Screening of nano-particles for agricultural application in tropical regions
4. Conducting tests utilizing a commercial seaweed extract provided by Acadian Seaplants Ltd. Darthmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada for its efficacies in agriculture in tropical environments
5. Plant RNA sequencing to identify novel genes and pathways
6. Microbial profiling through next-generation metagenomic sequencing
7. RNA and metagenomic (16s rRNA and ITS) sequence data analysis

Achievements/ awards

1. UWI Postgraduate Scholarship
2. 3rd Place Postgraduate Poster Proposal (6th Annual Research Symposium, Department of Life Sciences, FST, UWI- 2006)     
3. UWI Campus Research and Publication Fund      

Events

1. 6th Annual Research Symposium, Department of Life Sciences, FST, UWI (2016)
2. International Conference on Integrated Disease Management in Tropical Vegetables, Dept. of Life Sciences, FST, UWI-St. Augustine (June 2016)
3. The Social Determinants of Health, Climate Change & Public Health Internship Program for Caribbean Secondary School Students 2016                                                                   
4. Workshop on Bacterial antibiotic resistance and new molecular methods for identification of antibiotic resistance (Aug 2016)
5. 7th Annual Research Symposium, Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI (2016)         
6. An Introduction to Laboratory Diagnosis, Molecular Biology and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the COVID-19 Laboratory Response (April 2020)

Additional skills/certifications

1. Microsoft Access, PowerPoint, Word & Excel certification (2013 – Microsoft IT Academy)
2. Diploma in Food safety - Alison/Online (2014)
3. Certificate in Bioinformatic Methods I (University of Toronto- Online 2016)
4. Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED (fd25a6e4b9df – 2017)
5. Advanced Bioinformatics and NGS-RNASeq. Ref. Based, Denovo Based and 16srRNA Metagenomics (ArrayGen - 2019)