During the week of 29 January – 2 February 2018, a PhD student, Mr Martin Chemonges (left), and a postdoctoral fellow, Dr Ansori Maré (middle), both from the University of the Free State, received in-depth training at the CenGen laboratory on how to design, set up and interpret the results of a KASP™️ SNP experiment, using the KASP SNPline™️ instruments housed at CenGen since 2013.
The KASPTM SNP technology was developed by KBiosciences, now part of LGC Ltd (http://www.lgcgroup.com/), a UK-based company, for the rapid screening of SNP markers across a variety of animal and plant species including crops such as wheat, barley, potato, sunflower and coffee.
At the time of installation, the SNPline™️ at CenGen was the only one of its kind in Africa, and only the second in the southern hemisphere. The technology was obtained through a grant from the UK-BBSRC under the Sustainable Crop Production Research for International Development (SCPRID) initiative.
Martin and Ansori gained valuable knowledge whilst working with their own samples and experienced the power and convenience of high-throughput genotyping at first-hand.
