Illumina Inc announces two new grant recipients at the 21st International Plant and Animal Genome Conference

Updated on: Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Illumina Inc announced two new grant recipients of its Agricultural Greater Good Initiative at the 21st International Plant and Animal Genome Conference on January 15. The recipients, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub, are pioneering applications of Illumina technologies to increase crop yields and reduce poverty and hunger.

ICRISAT, a member of the CGIAR consortium, will use the grant to expand its efforts to improve the productivity of pigeonpea, a staple crop used for food, feed and fuel production in Africa and India. BecA-ILRI Hub will use the grant to expand its study of genetic resistance to cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease, both of which have infected large percentages of crops across East Africa where cassava is a major source of nutrition.

“There is nothing more foundationally important to health than food, and Illumina is excited to be involved with organisations working at the forefront of food security,” says Jay Flatley, president and CEO of Illumina, which develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function.

“This grant will supplement our USAID-sponsored efforts on pigeonpea improvement through molecular breeding. We are working in collaboration with our national partners such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research ICAR and State Agricultural Universities, as well as with our African partner institutes, to help in food security and income generation in developing countries,” said ICRISAT director general William Dar.

Illumina Inc announces two new grant recipients at the 21st International Plant and Animal Genome Conference

More Education news