Latest ACACIA News
Yellow rust populations can now be freely browsed on Nextstrain interface
The wheat yellow rust fungus (Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici) is the first plant pathogen to be added to an online open source platform, Nextstrain.org. The interactive data visualization tool displays genome data by reconstructing a “phylogeny” that illustrates the differences in the genetic makeup of bacterial, viral and fungal strains. This assists researchers investigating how […]
Innovator of the Year award recognises impact of international collaboration in wheat disease diagnostics
Diane Saunders has been named the 2019 BBSRC Innovator of the Year for international impact following her group’s work on developing genomics-based approaches for rapid point-of-care fungal disease diagnostics. Their latest advancement known as MARPLE (Mobile and Real-time PLant disEase) Diagnostics, was the result of a collaboration with Dr. Dave Hodson of CIMMYT and Dr. […]
Job Opening: Ethiopia Programme Manager
Applications for this position have now closed As part of the Alliance for Accelerated Crop Improvement in Africa (ACACIA), we have an increasing number of priority projects and partnerships in Ethiopia, including collaborative research and capacity building activities. Applications are invited for an Ethiopia Programme Manager to manage this programme. The role This outward-facing role […]
AfriPlantSci 19 – A Summer School Making a Difference
“The training created awareness, enhanced capacity, created an opportunity for researchers to network, brought forth new research ideas and opportunities for south south and north south collaborative research on African Plant Health.” – Professor Mohamed S. Rajab, Vice-Chancellor, Pwani University. Take a group of highly motivated, early-career African plant health researchers, an enthusiastic, skilled staff […]
Scientists support new African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellows in Ethiopia.
Scientists at The Roslin Institute, the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and John Innes Centre (JIC) will support a new fellowship programme of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), by helping to build and sharpen the scientific skills of new fellows. As part of its efforts to strengthen gender-responsive agricultural […]
New BecA-ILRI Hub annual report now online
The Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub is a co-creation of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU/NEPAD) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Over the years, BecA has developed and refined its core activities and areas of focus, formed partnerships and initiatives and grown its […]
Call for participants to workshop on Bioinformatics and Wheat Genomics II
The UK Science & Innovation Network (South Africa) will be hosting a workshop on the above theme in Worcester, SOUTH AFRICA on 4 – 8 February 2019 to build on the previous workshop (Bioinformatics and Wheat Genomics) made possible by the Newton Fund Researchers Link Program, which aimed to establish and strengthen relationships between South […]
MARPLE Diagnostics: A Pioneering Step in Ethiopian Wheat Rust Management
“Due to wheat rust, farmers lose a major part of their productivity every year. We want to see this project on the ground bringing impact, to show farmers and the nation this technology works.” -Dr. Tadessa Daba, Director of Agricultural Biotechnology Research, EIAR. A new revolutionary mobile lab set-up created by the Saunders lab of […]
2019 AfriPlantSci Application Now Open
Applications now open for the 2019 AfriPlantSci Summer School at Pwani University Kenya now open. The course will run from the 3rd – 16th April 2019 under the title: Healthy Plants, Healthy People, Healthy Planet Go to Application Page Read Previous Course Report Any further questions should go to Tilly Eldridge (Tilly.Eldridge@jic.ac.uk)
Student Symposium Forms Interdisciplinary Networks
A great avenue for building a vibrant network of emerging scientists committed to advancing research collaboration – Michèle Mbo’o-Tchouawou The nature of the greatest challenges to humanity are not limited to single research fields and so if we are to effectively address the development goals, we must become truly interdisciplinary. While clear enough in notion, this […]