Kassahun Tesfaye

Dr. Kassahun Tesfaye is Director General of the Bio and Emerging Technology Institute (Former Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute) since its establishment on June 2016 and an Associate Professor of Genetics at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He received a BSc in Plant Science from Haramaya University, MSc in Applied Genetics from Addis Ababa University and a PhD in Plant Genetics from University of Bonn, Germany in 2006. He also did his three years postdoc at University of Bonn, Germany. He also worked as crop researcher and breeder/geneticist and served as Center Director at Sinana Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia for two years. He provides consultancy services to various organizations and has published more than 130 articles in reputable international journals and advised more than 65 MSc and PhD students. His main research focus is in food crop improvement using conventional, molecular breeding, biotechnology tools and approaches to contribute to ongoing efforts of food and nutrition security in Ethiopia and beyond. His research involves biotechnology approach and also sequence based analysis of genetic resources to improve the productivity of key food security crops including but not limited to Sorghum, Finger millet, Chickpea, Wheat, Noug, Coffee, Sesame and underutilized tuber crops of Africa. He is also a founding member of Ethiopian Young Academy Sciences under the auspices of Ethiopian Young Academy of Sciences.