Abubaker Muwonge
I am Muwonge Abubaker, a research scientist, currently working with National Crops Resources Research Institute (NACRRI) under the National agricultural research organization (NARO) in Uganda. I have a training background in molecular biology both at masters and Ph.D level. My research interest is to use genomic based tools in the development of crop varieties or plant genetic resources well suited to the local small holder farmers in SSA. My vision for agriculture in Africa is to increase agricultural productivity through new and advanced technologies to increase food security and access lucrative market in the developed nations.
Bioinformatics will help transform agriculture productivity by expediting variety development process through strategies such as genomic selection (GS) and genomic-assisted traits dissection of agronomic important traits in Africa. In addition, genomic resources generated from bioinformatics such as sequenced genomes and information on functional genes will help us understand important biological processes that underpin crops or livestock productivity, and this will advance efforts in breeding for resilience to african conditions. At a personal level, the Bioinformatics Community of Practice (BixCoP) has enhance my capacity in analysing and interpreting biological data. I am now empowered in analysis of data from NGS platforms. This training is very timely for me as my institute (NaCRRI) has recently adopted NGS-enabled breeding strategies in which developed populations Maize, rice, beans, cassava, sweet potato are being genotyped on the Genotyping-by-Sequencing platform. These valuable genomic resources will be use to breeders in implementing GS and genome wide association (GWAS) strategies in their breeding. The BixCop has built my capacity and confidence to lead as well as train colleagues in the analysis of these data at my institute.