Research Supervisor at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Research Supervisor

Job Requisition ID: IITA/P&C/NRS2024-019
Location: Ibadan, Oyo
Job type: Contract
Duration: 1-year renewable contract

Duties

• Prepare samples for genotyping following the vendors’ instructions.
• Work with the curator to uphold the genotyping plate information and the genotyping results to MusaBase.
• Extract, purify, quantify, and standardize DNA as needed and run PCR for specified products.
• Perform ploidy analysis of banana hybrids and other germplasm, and enter the results in BTracT as applicable.
• Archive the leaves of every genotype in the field and create a directory for easy access to the material.
• Participate in the writing and validation of SOPs as well as student or other training related to the plantain molecular work.
• Assist in the field and lab data collection for molecular research and application.
• Keep custody of the molecular laboratory supplies and reagents.
• Keep an updated inventory of the laboratory supplies for plantain molecular work.
• Perform any other job-related tasks as may be assigned by the Supervisor.

Qualifications

• Candidates should possess a B.Sc / HND in Plant Science, Biology, Chemistry or any other related field with a minimum of two (2) years’ experience performing a similar role in a well-structured environment.

Competencies:
The ideal candidate must:

• Be experienced in the extraction of high quality DNA from plants.
• Be experienced in basic procedures and techniques in molecular biology.
• Have practical experience with digital data collection and reporting.
• Have good communication skills.
• Have a good sense of lab ethics and cleanliness.
• Be a team player with good interpersonal skills.

Application Closing Date
4th July, 2024