American Society of Plant Biologists, Generation Challenge Program, Cornell University’s Institute for Genomic Diversity, and EMBRAPA

Workshop: New Tools for Molecular Breeding, BECA hub, Nairobi, Kenya, 14 -17 November 2011

(http://www.acss.ws/acw/News.aspx?id=227)

Course Description & Accepted Participants

 A workshop on “New Tools for Molecular Breeding” is being organized for November 13-18, 2011. Co-sponsored by the American Society of Plant Biologists, the Generation Challenge Program, the Cornell Institute for Genomic Diversity, and the African Crop Science Society, the venue is the BioSciences of East and Central Africa (BECA) hub in Nairobi, Kenya. Topics will include using molecular markers in plant breeding and genetic diversity assessment, primer design, using publicly available sequence information, basic bioinformatics, current molecular breeding strategies, and more, and will include information on how to access available resources, such as online databases and the GCP Integrated Breeding Platform. While we will discuss DNA troubleshooting, this course will be geared towards bioinformatics, and will be a mix of seminars and hands-on practice.

Accepted participants must be an African and hold or be well in the process of acquiring a graduate degree in plant breeding, agronomy or related fields and have some experience in DNA extraction and molecular biology. Priority was given to plant breeders or people currently working on plant breeding projects that are in a position to take advantage of the knowledge gained through the workshop. The organizing committee received almost 200 applications from 23 countries in Africa! So the selection process turned out to be quite difficult. However, based on the above criteria, the organizing committee selected 18 people from ~12 countries, various crops, some young, some more established, aiming for people that have some previous experience with markers (since this is not really an introductory course) and a current active breeding program. The list of selections below (when there are 2 countries listed, the 1st is where they are from, the next is where they are now). There are extra Kenyans, because they don't cost us travel. Travel, accommodation and meals will be provided for accepted participants; there will be no additional per diem given.

 For more details and workshop arrangements, please contact Dr. Theresa Fulton, tf12@cornell.edu  (Director of Education & Training Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University, 130C Biotechnology Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA, http://www.igd.cornell.edu )

 The list of selections (Accepted participants):

 Best Regards

 African Crop Science Society;