A Cutting-Edge Course to Empower African Scientists

Each year, the AfPBA CRISPR Course in Gene Editing trains a class of 10 to 20 doctorate-level plant scientists from across the African continent to use CRISPR. The goal of this unique program is to empower these scientists with tools to rapidly develop crop varieties that meet the needs of their local communities, such as adapting to climate change, boosting nutritional content, and making plants resistant to local pests and disease threats. Participants for this selective course are chosen based on their expertise and ability to serve as educators in their home institutes, passing CRISPR knowledge to their colleagues and trainees. 

The CRISPR Course is a year-long program offered by the Innovative Genomics Institute in partnership with the African Orphan Crops Consortium, the Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, as part of the African Plant Breeding Academy. Course sessions are held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Partners

In addition UC Davis, the African Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA), and the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC), partners include the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) which is hosted in Nairobi, Kenya by the Center for International Forestry Research and the World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Additional partners include Morrison and Foerster, Bayer, Syngenta, UM6P Ventures, and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR).