CIP MOLECULAR BREEDER SELECTED AS FINALIST: 2018 CGIAR NORMAN E. BORLAUG FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Congratulations to Dr. Mercy Kitavi who just got accepted into the Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program. She will be hosted by Michigan State University (MSU). 

Mercy is Molecular breeder and Capacity Building Scientist at the International Potato Center. For this fellowship, she hopes to learn more about Bioinformatics.

“Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data. Sweetpotato is one of the species with a complex genome (having 6 sets of chromosomes with 15 chromosomes per set and a total of 90) and therefore requires customized analysis methods. I work with the sweetpotato breeders in sub-Saharan Africa and I know how their work is difficult. They, therefore, lack time to learn bioinformatics and trying to understand genomics and molecular data. Therefore, having someone with know-how on the bioinformatics and analysis of genomic data will be a big leap and support for them in the application of genomics-assisted breeding,” explained Mercy.

ABOUT THE BORLAUG FELLOWSHIP

The Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program promotes food security and economic growth by providing training and collaborative research opportunities to fellows from developing and middle-income countries. Borlaug fellows are generally scientists, researchers, or policymakers who are in the early or middle stages of their careers. Each fellow works one-on-one with a mentor at a U.S. university, research center or government agency, usually for 8-12 weeks. The U.S. mentor will later visit the fellow’s home institution to continue collaboration. Fellows may also attend professional conferences and events within their field, such as the annual World Food Prize Symposium. Learn more: https://www.fas.usda.gov/programs/borlaug-fellowship-program