The Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI)
Hub is a shared agricultural research and biosciences platform located at and managed by ILRI in Nairobi, Kenya.
The platform increases access to world class laboratories for African and international scientists conducting research on African agricultural challenges.
The BecA-ILRI Hub was established as part of the African Union/ New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU/NEPAD)
African Biosciences Initiative (ABI). It was developed within the framework of NEPAD's Centers of Excellence for Science and Technology and the
Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), and in alignment with regional priorities set by
Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA).
All research projects implemented at the BecA-ILRI Hub are directed towards delivering products to help improve food and nutritional security in Africa.
The John Innes Centre (JIC) is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. Research at the John Innes Centre makes use of a wide range of disciplines in biological and chemical sciences, including microbiology, cell biology, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, genomics, molecular biology, computational and mathematical biology.
The JIC is contributing to important global initiatives to improve food security and is at the forefront of generating genetic resources for the plant/crop science communities covering crop transformation, genetic mapping and resource development for forward and reverse genetics. The tools that have been developed at JIC and with partners have cross cutting applications to many other cereals and crops.
In 2014 a formal alliance between BecA-ILRI Hub and JIC began to focus on accelerating crop improvement in Africa. A key emphasis of the BecA-JIC alliance is to support African research projects linked to the molecular breeding platform at BecA-ILRI Hub. This workshop, through the BecA-JIC alliance, will bring together the world-leading expertise of JIC and the BecA-ILRI Hub, to advance cereals genetic research using latest genomic and germplasm resources for African breeders.