Yeshitila Degefu

Dr Yeshitila Degefu received his BSc in Plant Sciences from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Master of Agriculture and Forestry (MSc) in Plant Pathology from University of Helsinki and Doctor of Agriculture and Forestry (MMT) in Molecular Plant Pathology and Biotechnology from the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has over 25 years of experience in teaching and research at the University of Addis Ababa, University of Helsinki and his current position at MTT Agrifood Research Finland. His special area of expertise are in molecular basis of pathogen-plant interactions and development of molecular tools for dissection of pathogenicity factors and analysis of defence related genes. His   published work include microbial and plant transformations and analysis of transgenics and the molecular characterization of putative pathogenicity factors of fungal pathogens. He is currently running a research and service laboratory at MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Biotechnology and Food Research, Seed Potato Biotechnology Unit based at Ruukki developing high throughput molecular tools for diagnosis and detection of potato diseases and for studies associated with seed potato physiology.