Manabu Ishitani

Dr. Ishitani, is a Principal Scientist in the Crops for Nutrition and Health team at the America Hub of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in Cali, Colombia. With a Ph.D. in Agricultural Biochemistry from Nagoya University in Japan, Dr. Ishitani has spent over two decades researching crop improvement through molecular breeding including gene editing and high-throughput field phenotyping techniques. Dr. Ishitani's research interests also extend to the area of data-driven agriculture, which includes the use of disruptive technologies such as remote sensing technologies and AI. With the increasing need to improve agricultural productivity and food security, Dr. Ishitani believes that applying these technologies in public-private partnership settings can facilitate transforming agriculture and ultimately improve productivity and climate resilience.

Dr. Ishitani's experience includes serving as the Coordinator of the International Laboratory for Cassava Molecular Breeding (ILCMB) at the Agricultural Genetics Institute (AGI)/CIAT Asia office in Hanoi, Vietnam, since 2012. He has also been a Senior Scientist in the Agrobiodiversity Research Area at CIAT since 2003. His career highlights include being a Research Scientist at BASF Plant Science L.L.C. in North Carolina, USA, for three years and a postdoctoral fellow at the Plant Science Department, University of Arizona, USA. Dr. Ishitani has also been a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at the Biochemistry Department, University of Arizona, USA.
Dr. Ishitani has contributed to the field of agriculture research through her numerous publications and professional contributions. He is an Editorial Board Member of Breeding Science and has served as a journal referee for international journals. His Google Scholar citations and h-index demonstrate his significant contributions to the field of agriculture research.