PhD & Postdoc

Grace Mutua

Crop Biotechnology · University of Nairobi

Grace Mutua is a PhD candidate in Crop Biotechnology at the University of Nairobi, supervised by Prof. Daniel Njoroge. Her thesis applies CRISPR-Cas9 editing and speed breeding to introduce drought-tolerance and striga-resistance alleles into elite Kenyan sorghum varieties, characterising edited lines through greenhouse and multi-site field trials under rain-fed conditions. Six publications in Plant Biotechnology Journal and Theoretical and Applied Genetics document her editing strategies and phenotypic results. Grace received a CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme doctoral scholarship and collaborated with ICRISAT's Eastern and Southern Africa hub in Nairobi. She has been offered a crop improvement scientist position at Corteva Agriscience's Africa breeding programme. Her edited sorghum lines yield 25 percent more under drought stress compared to unedited controls across three years of field data.

Thesis Topic

CRISPR-Cas9 editing for drought tolerance and striga resistance in Kenyan sorghum

Transition Signals