Prof. (Mrs.) Marian D. Quain
Qualification: PhD. Botany (Plant Physiology)
Telephone: +233 (0) 248 228 255 +233 (0) 267 443 639
Email: m.quain@cropsresearch.org, marianquain@hotmail.com
Area of Specialization: Tissue Culture, Genetic Transformation, Molecular Biology, Aeroponics
Research Interests: Biotechnology
Nationality: Ghanaian
Station: Fumesua, Kumasi (Ghana)
Professor Marian Dorcas Quain is a renowned biotechnologist with expertise in tissue culture, genetic transformation, plant physiology, molecular biology, cryopreservation, and aeroponics. She holds a PhD in Botany-Plant Physiology, an MPhil in Botany-Physiology as well as a BSc. in Botany-Zoology-all from the University of Ghana, Legon. She carried out certain aspects of her PhD research studies at the University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal Howard Campus in Durban, South Africa as well as the Tuskegee University of Alabama, USA as a fellow of the Third World Organization for Women Science.
She served as a teaching and a research assistant during her national service at the Department of Botany of the University of Ghana, Legon in 1991 and also after her M.Phil. in 1994. She was a research scientist in charge of field sanitation at the Paradise Farms Ltd, Ghana which produced organic papaya for export to Europe (1995-1996). Prof. Quain joined the CSIR-Crops Research Institute in 1996 and immediately started running the Institute’s tissue culture laboratory. Over the years, she has worked on numerous crops focusing on utilizing tissue culture techniques for the production of clean planting materials, germplasm conservation and the use of molecular tools for crop diversity, disease diagnostics and molecular marker assisted selection to facilitate current state-of-the-art breeding using transcriptomics and proteomics, as well as application of recombinant gene technology for crop improvement.
She started the molecular biology laboratory of the Institute in 2006 and is currently the leader of the Biotechnology Research Program at the Institute.
Prof. Marian Quain is currently the principal investigator for the Yam Improvement for Income/Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA II) project, the Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA II) project as well as the Conservation of African Sweetpotato Landraces Genebank Platform project.
She has played key roles in the development and release of over thirty (30) crop varieties of sweetpotato, groundnut, rice, taro and cocoyam. She was part of research teams that worked to develop and release popular varieties such as CRI-Obooshi, CRI-Mayeyie, CRI-Ena Pa, Crops Nkatie, CRI-Kofi Annan and CRI-Agyenkwa.
Prof. Quain has authored over one hundred scientific publications comprising refereed journal papers, books, book chapters, conference papers, production guides, technical reports and manuals-most of which have been published in very reputable high impact local and international journals.
As a very experienced scientist, she has trained several technicians and researchers in the application of biotechnology in research. She also consults and contributes expertise to the running of a number of tissue culture and molecular biology laboratories in a number of organizations in Ghana.
Prof Marian Quain is an award-winning scientist with several awards under her belt. In 2013, she was adjudged the National Best Research Scientist by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). She also won the American Society for Plant Biologists Award for Excellence in Education for her outstanding contributions to plant biology education.
She is a 2017 Cochran Fellow and a Fellow of the Africa Science Leadership Program for 2017. Under the Schlumberger Foundation Fellowship for Future Faculty, Marian was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Leeds University, UK, between 2011 and 2013.
Prior to her appointment as the Deputy Director of the Institute, she previously served as the head of the Biotechnology, Seed and Post-harvest division of the Institute. She has also served and continuous to serve on numerous committees as well.
Prof Quain is Chief Research Scientist and an associate professor at the CSIR College for Science and Technology (CCST), Ghana, as well as a part-time lecturer at the Pan African University Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, Ibadan, Nigeria. She has also supervised and served as an external examiner for several undergraduate and post-graduate students.
She is currently the chairperson for CSIR Basic School Management Board. She is married with children
Prof. Marian Quain has the following local and international affiliations:
Member, Ghana Science Association
Member ,The American Society of Plant Biologists
Member ,Research Staff Association of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Member, International Society for Seed Science (ISSS)
Member ,Society for in vitro Biology (SIVB)
Member, Gamma Sigma Delta Tuskegee University Alabama USA Chapter
Member, International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)
