BecA-ILRI Hub alumnus recognized for research on small ruminants

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Written on Wednesday, 30 August 2017 16:55

ABCF alumnus Getinet Mekuriaw receives the Young Professional award from the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production, 24 August 2017

Getinet Mekuriaw, an alumnus of the Bioscience eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub was recently recognized for his research on goats.

A beneficiary of the BecA-ILRI Hub’s Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) program, Mekuriaw was awarded the “Young Professional Award” from the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP) during its Silver Jubilee celebrations at Haramaya University from 24–25 August 2017.

Getinet Mekuriaw is an assistant professor at the Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia. In 2014, his PhD research was linked to the BecA-ILRI Hub’s Harnessing genetic diversity for improved goat productivity project where he contributed largely to establishing the extent of diversity among indigenous goat breeds in Ethiopia.

As a visiting scientist at the BecA-ILRI Hub from 2016 to mid 2017, Mekuriaw undertook research that has identified the genetic potentials of the goat populations of Ethiopia, Cameroon, Morocco and Egypt. His work has singled out genes that are candidates to enhance adaptation to harsh climates, disease resistance, reproduction, and hair fiber production. 

Mekuriaw is currently a postdoctoral scientist in dairy genetics and genomics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden.

Getinet Mekuriaw at the Sixth All African Conference on Animal Agriculture in Nairobi in 2014, where he represented the BecA-ILRI Hub as an ABCF fellow. Inset - the Young Professional Award medal.

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