A CONVENING ON ROOTS CROPS VIRUS DIAGNOSTICS IN WEST AFRICA (West Africa virus diagnostics)

on Sunday, June 30, 2013
From 27 to 29th June 2013 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Agricultural Program organized a meeting in Accra, Ghana to bring together scientists from West African countries ( Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast) to talk and discuss on a possibility of initiating a regional cassava virus disease diagnostic project in west Africa. Dr. Joseph Ndunguru and Dr. Peter Sseruwagi working on a similar project in Tanzania were invited to share their experience with the west African scientists.
Representative From MARI, Dr. Joseph Ndnguru (centre) Dr. Peter Sseruwagi (Left) listening
to a scientists, this was taken in Accra - Ghana recently.

TRAINING OF TECHNICIANS ON DIAGNOSTICS AND LABORATORY PRACTICE

on Monday, June 17, 2013
Technician got training on Diagnostics and Laboratory practices, this is the first of a series of short term capacity building training under the aim of three of the desease diagnostics for sustainable productivity of cassava in East Africa.The training main objective was to build the capacityof the new recruits and existing project technical staffs in cassava disease diagnostics. The training was conducted by Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) and started on June 11th until June 17 under the Disease diagnostics for sustainable productivity of cassava in east Africa project funded by Bill and Melinda gates and Department for international Development (DFID).
Dickson Lwabulala from Tanzania Official Seeds Certification Institute (TOSCI) loading
PCR product on an agarose gel.

A new staff, Sylivia Msangi in extraction of nucleic acid.

A cool box for collecting fresh samples, behind there is a motor and pastle it is used
for extraction of nucleic acid.
Maria saggaf showing a student how to resuspend DNA in TE buffer, looking on
is Dr.Fred Tairo
Raimo Paakkari(right), Mika Pitkanen (centre) and Niko Tapionkaski(left)
admiring Molecular Biology Lab Equipment,all of them are coming
from Oulu University of Applied Science in Finland.
A cassava Plant infected with Cassava Mosaic Viruses, this was taken at Chambezi Field trial  in Bagamoyo District.
Students from Oulu University of Applied Science in Finland observing Cassava  Mosaic
Disease symptoms on the infected cassava Plant.
Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) affected leaf samples placement on herbarium paper for dry storage.
  Dr. Ndunguru Giving out ABC on how to know cassava virus disease symptom identification, disease assessment and sample collection
Dr. Fred Tairo showing students on how to collect cassava leaf samples, this was taken at Chambezi field trial in Bagamoyo District.
Project technical staff and new recruits attending a training in cassava virus disease diagnostics