CONNECTED conducts Virus and vector diagnostics workshop for selected researchers at BecA-ILRI Hub

The Community
Network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses (CONNECTED) formed a partnership
with BecA-ILRI Hub in 2018 that led to a five-day full-funded training course
for early career plant molecular biologists from across Africa. The course
titled: An introduction
to virus and vector diagnostics took place on 11-15 March and was hosted by
BecA-ILRI Hub in Nairobi, Kenya.

The course
trained 17 participants from 10 countries, carefully selected after a call for
early career researchers interested in virus and vector diagnostics was put out
by CONNECTED and shared on various digital platforms. The trainers were
Professor Neil Boonham from Newcastle University and Professor Gonçalo Silva
from The Natural Resources
Institute, University of Greenwich, UK. Their key objective was to empower the
participants with the ability to diagnose cassava and yam diseases by
empowering them with practical skills that can easily be used in their
fieldwork.

The
training began with opening remarks from Jacob Mignouna, BecA-ILRI Hub’s
Director: “This training highlights the
functions and goals of our diagnostic
platform, that is set up to provide knowledge and
technologies to help researchers advance their career goals.” This was followed by an
introduction of BecA’s technology platforms in a presentation made by BecA’s Technology
Manager, Josephine Birungi and a round table introduction of the participants
conducted by Julius Osaso, BecA’s diagnostic platform manager.

Professor
Boonham then took the trainees through an introduction to DNA Bar-coding and
instructed them on how to achieve high quality results to start off the
training, which was followed by a lab induction by ILRI’s health and safety
department (EOHS). After lunch, the trainees began their lab training that
involved DNA extraction and PCR amplification.

Over the
next couple of days, the trainees were taken through gel electrophoresis,
product purification, DNA prep for sequencing, LAMP and RPA amplification,
Database searching and DNA clustering. The training sessions included a morning
outline of activities and questions from the trainees, and a recap of the day’s
activities and general questions at the end of the training days.

“I am glad that this
workshop has brought in participants from our partner institutions such as
NACRRI with whom we already have on-going projects, but also the renewed
opportunities for other partnerships.” Julius Osaso, Diagnostics Manager,
BecA-ILRI Hub.

 “I have learnt techniques such as bar-coding
that will help me distinguish the species of insects like the whitefly, which
is very important for the work that I do. I have to thank CONNECTED network and
BecA for this opportunity.” Helen Apio, NACRRI, Uganda

“I am a
trained entomologist with no prior experience on some of these techniques such
as PCR and DNA extraction, which are very important to me and my project work,
which is on aphids. I am grateful to CONNECTED because I can now integrate
entomology and microbiology to reach greater heights in my career.” Honest
Machekano, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST),
Botswana.

“The training has strengthened my skills,
which is great for my career, I now know how to diagnose viruses and identify
insect pests for plans, I will now be to identify what lies in resistant virus
lines.” Fred Masika,
ABCF alumni, Uganda.

The course funding included travel,
accommodation, course fees and subsistence. The participants came from 10
countries: Benin, Burundi,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zambia.

The
CONNECTED network is a project that is working to build a sustainable network
of international scientists and researchers to tackle vector-borne plant
diseases that devastate lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Early career
researchers who
might be interested in similar opportunities are invited to join the CONNECTED
network, which is free of charge by following this link.

The African Academy of Sciences and Royal Society announce the recipients
of the FLAIR scheme that is awarding £25M, (£300,000 each) to 30 early
career African
research scientists.

We are proud to
announce that Dr Oluwaseyi Shorinola is one of the scientists that
have
been awarded £300,000 (Approx. US$400,000)
over 2 years.
Oluwaseyi’s FLAIR research
fellowship will be carried out at the BecA-ILRI Hub.

FLAIR (Future Leaders – African Independent Research) is a programme of
The African Academy of Science and Royal Society, with support from
the UK’s Global
Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The fellowship is designed to help
talented early-career researchers, whose science is focused on the needs of the
continent, establish independent careers in African institutions and
ultimately, their own research groups. Up to 30 FLAIR fellowships will be
awarded in 2019 to researchers from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and
Zimbabwe.

Dr Shorinola has a pre-existing relationship with the BecA-ILRI Hub, where
he was on secondment as a post-doctoral scientist from the John Innes Centre
(JIC), UK. His post-doctoral
work focused on understanding the genetic control of important
economic traits in wheat including grain quality and root development. He is
using a combination of
mutational genomics approaches, high-throughput phenotyping, next-generation
sequencing and classical genetics to identify genes involved in grain
quality traits and root development and will deploy these to develop improved
wheat varieties.

He is additionally involved in the ACACIA (acaciaafrica.org) partnership – a strategic partnership
between JIC and the BecA-ILRIHub. Under this partnership,
Oluwaseyi is coordinating an extensive 2-year bioinformatics training programme
to building a support network for agricultural research in Africa.

His research as a FLAIR fellow at BecA-ILRI Hub will focus on using genetics to improve the yield and quality of
wheat production in East Africa.  Olywayesi
will particularly focus on using “speed” breeding to introduce five beneficial
genes for grain size, protein content and disease resistance into East Africa
wheat.

Kodjo Glato was one of 157 passengers and crew who tragically perished in the crash of flight ET302 on 10 March 2019

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub express their profound sympathy to all those who were bereaved when their family members, friends or colleagues tragically lost their lives in the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday, 10 March 2019.

A Togolese national, Dr Glato was an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Lomé, Togo, a partner institution of ILRI’s. He was on his way to Nairobi to attend a BecA-ILRI Hub training course that is part of the Community Network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses (CONNECTED).

Dr Glato was a biotechnologist
and plant physiologist working on agricultural genetic diversity and
smallholder farming practices associated with sweetpotato cultivation. He
received his PhD in 2015 from the University of Lomé.

Staff and partners at the
BecA-ILRI Hub knew him as a hardworking, affable and dedicated young
professional. He was part of a new generation of scientists contributing to
Togo’s agricultural development.

Kodjo
Glato inspired many with his drive and tenacity. He was known to take on
challenges with monumental zeal. His passion for the smallholder farmer will be
badly missed. May he rest in peace.
—Jacob Mignouna, director of the BecA-ILRI Hub

It
is always sad to lose a colleague suddenly. But to lose a colleague at the very
start of his career, with so much left to contribute, is a tragedy.
—Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI

‘On behalf of ILRI’, Jimmy Smith
said, ‘we extend our deepest condolences to Kodjo Glato’s family, friends and
colleagues as well as to all those who lost colleagues, friends and loved ones
on flight ET302.’

Bunmi Olasanmi, a lecturer and a researcher at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, swears that the most exciting thing about science is developing improved varieties of crops for greater yields.

Olasanmi’s work focuses on
cassava, he chose to work
on cassava because it is vital to the economy of Nigeria, which is also the world’s largest producer of the crop in the
world mainly through subsistence farming.

A new variant of the root crop is the yellow
cassava, that is fortified with Vitamin A, a critical nutrient that meets nutrition requirements and improves human health. But biofortified varieties
of cassava are susceptible to cassava mosaic disease (CMD). They also have poor
plant architecture making them unsuitable for intercropping, which is important
to small-scale farmers.

Selecting outstanding genotypes to develop CMD resistant varieties of cassava using conventional screening methods alone may take about 10 years. As an ABCF fellow, Olasanmi used molecular markers to accelerate the process of developing new varieties. Out of over 600 genotypes screened at BecA-ILRI Hub, he was able to identify 68 cassava genotypes with resistance to CMD and high beta carotene content. The clonal evaluation of cassava genotypes for desirable traits are ongoing and the field evaluations will be conducted at different locations in Nigeria for two seasons starting in 2019.

The University of Ibadan has a laboratory where Olasanmi could have done this work. However, it does not have adequate infrastructure to support all his research activities. Olasanmi received his PhD in plant breeding from University of Ibadan. He was awarded a fellowship from the Institute for Genomic Diversity at Cornell University and was a finalist in the third Africa-wide young professionals in science competition that was run by the Young Professionals in Agricultural Research and Development.

Despite the growing demand for cross-nationally-comparable statistics on women in science, national data and their use in policymaking remains limited. A study conducted by UNESCO, published in June 2018 indicates that women account for 28.8% of the world’s researchers

BecA-ILRI Hub is constantly seeking to close the gender gap by encouraging women researchers to participate in the different opportunities the platform provides.

Obaiya Utoblo is a PhD student at the University of Ghana, West Africa Center for Crop (WACCI), who had the opportunity to participate in one of BecA-ILRI Hub’s trainee workshops that equipped students with skills in science communication. The trainees were equipped with data management and communication skills, which provided them with the essentials of effective communication especially while speaking to a non-scientific audience.

While at BecA, Obaiya had the chance to interact with other women in science which gave her the valiance necessary to work towards her career goals.

Read more about her experience as a woman in science on the ISAAA website here