The Feed the Future Striga-Smart Sorghum for Africa (SSSfA) project is holding an enzyme manufacturing masterclass on 17th – 21st April, 2023. The one-week hands-on course, which will be held at Kenyatta University, will teach 20 next-generation researchers, from Ethiopia and Kenya, how to produce essential enzymes for molecular biology.
Students will learn and perform all the steps involved in protein production using low-cost materials and standard lab equipment, as well as prepare a dry formulation allowing the storage of enzymes at ambient temperatures for up to several months. This training is the first in a series of bio-entrepreneurship trainings under the SSSfA project that are expected to reduce the cost of doing science in the focus countries, Ethiopia and Kenya. Ultimately, the efforts will eventually cascade across the region with aim of facilitating affordable research, given the most basic reagents can be difficult to procure in most African countries.
At the end of the masterclass, students will take away shared, open-source protocols and DNA parts to enable them accelerate their research with cheaper enzymes produced on demand.
The Enzyme Manufacturing Masterclass will be led by Beneficial Bio Ltd, as part of the SSSfA project, a joint initiative of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter, Kenyatta University (Kenya), Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) and the Africa Agricultural technology Foundation (AATF)
