Kushtrim Llapashtica

Kushtrim joined the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in November 2021 and works at The International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) in Leuven, Belgium. His responsibilities include planning the day-to-day operations of the banana genebank to ensure smooth functioning in both the laboratory and greenhouse. The ITC collection is available for international distribution; upon receiving a request for banana germplasm, he subcultures the material and ships the samples to the requester. He also contributes to expanding the banana cryobank by organizing and preparing germplasm for cryopreservation.