- Day 1 10 April 2025
- Day 2 11 April 2025
- Main Auditorium
9:00 – 9:15: Opening Remarks
9:15 – 9:45 Plenary 1: Dr. Leena Tripathi, IITA
Harnessing New Genomic Technologies for Sustainable Crop Improvement in Africa: Advances, Challenges, and Strategic Pathways
9:45 – 10:15 Speaker 1: Prof. Dr. Herve Vanderschuren, KU Leuven
High-throughput screening, gene discovery and transgene-free genome editing of banana and cassava for rapid delivery of improved farmer-preferred cultivars
10:15 – 10:45 Speaker 2: Prof. Ann Muigai, JKUAT
The Africa BioGenome Project
11:05 – 11:25 Speaker 1: Dr. Madeleine Seale, AAAS
Behind the Scenes at Science
11:25 – 11:45 Speaker 2: Inqaba Biotec
Sequencing with the PacBio Revio Platform
11:45 – 12:05 Speaker 3: Dr. Pablo Manavello, ASPB
The Plant Cell journal
12:05 – 12:25 Speaker 4: Dr. Cecilia Rumberia Waruhiu, F&S Scientific
Illumina Technologies to Develop a Genomic Ecosystem for Plants
12:25 – 12:45 Speaker 5: Plants People Planet, Wiley
Publishing your research in Plants, People, Planet
13:45 – 14:15 Plenary 2: Dr. Kwasi Agbleke, SITA
The heteroblasticity of flowering plants.
14:15 – 14:35 Speaker 1: Dr. Titus Magomere, Kenyatta University
Harnessing the power of genome editing in species with polyploidy, paleopolyploidy and chromosome inversions in their genomes
14:35 – 14:55 Speaker 2: Dr. Rachita Srivastava, MPI for Plant Breeding
Comparative demographic analysis of Cardamine hirsuta and Arabidopsis thaliana
14:55 – 15:15 Speaker 3: Mr. Sadam Sulaiman Indabo, Ahmadu Bello University
Dissecting genomic regions and underlying candidate genes in groundnut MAGIC population for drought tolerance
15:15 – 15:35 Speaker 4: Ms. Alaa Ahmed, BBRC
Mining the gene pool of Sudanese wild sorghum for durable Striga hermonthica resistance
15:55 – 16:15 Speaker 1: Dr. Seyi Ebun Adeboye, NBDA
Understanding farmers’ preferences for the establishment of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in selected tomato cultivars using gene editing in Nigeria
16:15 – 16:35 Speaker 2: Mr. Sidney Engelbrecht, Africa Bioethics Network / KAUST
Legal and Ethical Frameworks for Access and Benefit-sharing Genetics sources in the context of the Nagoya Protocol in the Southern African Development Community Region
16:35 – 16:55 Speaker 3: Prof. Dr. Herve Vanderschuren, KU Leuven
Fostering adoption of agricultural biotechnology in the Global South through effective technology transfer and responsible communication
16:55 – 17:40 Panel discussion: Ethical and Social Issues in African Plant Genomics
Moderator: Anthony Aseta
Panel: Mercury Shitindo, Devang Mehta, Sidney Engelbrecht, Leena Tripathi, Jacky Kado
- Main Auditorium
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome Remarks
9:15 – 9:45 Plenary 3: Prof. Dr. Detlef Weigel, MPI for Biology Tübingen
TBA
9:45 – 10:15 Speaker 1: Dr. Florence Wambugu, Africa Harvest
Landscape Analysis of Genome Editing in Africa: An AU-NEPAD project
10:15 – 10:45 Speaker 2: Prof. Dr. Devang Mehta, KU Leuven
Developing and applying new genomics and proteomics technologies to study cassava pathogens
11:05 – 11:25 Speaker 1: Dr. Pablo Manavello, IHSM
On Transposons, small RNAs, and Chromatin Topology
11:25 – 11:45 Speaker 2: Dr. Bernice Waweru, John Innes Centre
kmer-derived haplotype detection and marker generation for breeding
11:45 – 12:05 Speaker 3: Ms. Jantor Ndalo, ICRAF / Kenyatta University
Exploring the Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Moringa oleifera using DArTSeq Derived SNP Markers.
12:05 – 12:25 Speaker 4: Mr. Paul Kagame, Ghent University
Diversification of The Eastern Africa Alpine Flora: A Case Study on Alpine Ferns
12:25 – 12:45 Speaker 5: Mr. Naaman Arodi, ICRISAT / University of Eldoret
Assessment of effector and receptor gene interaction defining virulence in Basmati 370 rice variety in Kenya
13:45 – 14:15 Plenary 4: Prof. Dr. Naglaa Ahmed Abdallah, Cairo University
Precise gene editing to tailor transgene free plants: state-of-the-art for crop improvement
14:15 – 14:35 Speaker 1: Dr. Vincent Were, The Sainsbury Laboratory
The blast effector Pwl2 is a virulence factor that modifies the cellular localisation of host protein HIPP43 to suppress immunity
14:35 – 14:55 Speaker 2: Ms. Sarah Macharia, IITA
CRISPR/Cas9 activation and overexpression of MusaVicilin gene for disease resistance in banana
14:55 – 15:15 Speaker 3: Dr. Parfait Kezimana, RUDN
Comparative Analysis of 2-Acetyl-1-Pyrroline Biosynthesis Gene Variants between Vegetable and Grain Soybeans
15:15 – 15:35 Speaker 4: Mr. Djidjoho Thierry Hodehou, University Cheikh Anta Diop
Genetic dissection of photoperiodic flowering to enhance grain mold avoidance in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)
15:55 – 16:15 Speaker 1: Dr. James Canham, GetGenome
Unlocking post-genomic potential across the global South
16:15 – 16:35 Speaker 2: Dr. Dolapo Adetokunbo Adeshina, NBRDA
Cutting-Edge Strategies for Enhancing Soybean Productivity in the Nigerian Southern Guinea Savannah: Integrating Genetic approaches with Bradyrhizobium japonicum Inoculation
16:35 – 16:55 Speaker 3: Dr. Francis Wamonje, NIAB
TBA
16:55 – 17:40 Panel discussion: Positioning Africa for leadership on genomics of African plants
Moderator: TBA
Panel: Ann Muigai, Florence Wambugu, Detlef Weigel, Steven Runo, Cecilia Waruhiu
