Kenya to work with Scotland in new livestock research program

Kenya’s efforts  in building capacity on animal biotechnology, especially on areas of development of biotechnology based vaccines and diagnostics for use in animal health got a major boost last week after the launch of a program that will see scientists from Scotland and Kenya work together in a new international centre designed for the study of livestock genetics. A statement issued by The Roslin Institute stated that the program will the health and productivity of farm animals within the tropics.

The University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Kenya’s International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as well as the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health will partnet to develop technologies that will help farmers identify animals for breeding to improve the quality of existing stock.

Scients from both Kenya and Scotland will study genes for disease resistance as well as livestock diseases. In Scotland, the program will be hosted at the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus which also hosts the Roslin Institute, the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Scotland’s Rural College.In Kenya, the program will be hosted at ILRI, in Nairobi. Reasearchers from ILRI’s LiveGene livestock genetic program and the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub will take part.

This was agreed upon at the BIO Livestock Biotech Summit (2014) which is focused on using the tools of biotechnology to improve livestock. Topics discussed in the summit include communication, research and development, regulatory systems as well as welfare improvements which can be achieved by the animal biotechnology community.