DW News program, “The 77 Percent,” recently featured young scientists from the IITA–CGIAR Kenya in a video aired on 12 September 2023 on the DW News website.
“The 77 Percent” is dubbed The Magazine for African Youth, amplifying the voices of young people under 35 by featuring hard-hitting reports, personal stories, and lively debates direct from the continent. The stories covered circumvent the big issues that matter most to the African youth.

IITA’s young scientists were featured under Science and Kenya to showcase young people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
In the interview, bioinformatics student Laurah Ondari shared insights into the project she is working on decoding the genetic makeup of bananas through applying bioinformatics techniques. The interview also captured PhD students Duncan Njora, Anastasie, and Sarah Karega from the lab team working on genome editing around the banana Xanthomonas disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris.

In the latter half of the video, Michael Landi, a bioinformatics student at IITA, shared efforts to promote bioinformatics and open science through the self-organized community, the Bioinformatics Hub of Kenya initiative (BHKi). Through peer training and mentorship, BHKi aims to bridge the gap between well-established bioinformaticians and aspiring ones. BHKi has established a collaborative partnership with IITA, engaging bioinformatics experts like Trushar Shah, a BHKi’s mentorship team member. Shah has contributed to this collaboration by delivering informative talks during various university outreach events organized by BHKi. Furthermore, IITA has been dedicated to building capacity in bioinformatics by actively organizing Next-Generation Sequencing workshops supported by BHKi members.
The feature ended with the young scientist’s future goals in research, the impact they hope to achieve, and how they plan to pass the knowledge to their successors.
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