Mr. J. K. Sitieney is an expert in Gene expression analysis of drought tolerant Kenyan sorghum varieties. He is studying traits and Genes that are responsible for drought tolerance. This will be used in crop development to produce high yielding sorghum varieties for alleviating poverty in the rural Kenya by providing food to the marginalized areas of the country.  He is a trained Molecular Biotechnologist-   He worked on the establishment of a protocol for the   In vitro regeneration of elite Kenyan Maize inbred lines (MSc Thesis Dissertation). The protocol was used in the Transformation of the Kenyan maize lines. His research interest is in the studies of Epigenetic regulation of sorghum root and seed development and nutrient partitioning especially during adaptation to drought. The studies focuses upon changes in acetylation of chromatin associated proteins, using siRNA mediated interference of expression of histones deacetylases HDACs which are proving to be an extremely valuable approach to study epigenetic control and proteome wide- mass spectrometric analyses. He is currently working molecular analysis of transgenic sorghum in ABS program. He has published two papers as shown below. 

 1.  *Shompole S, Rurangirwa F R, Wambugu A, Sitieney J, Mwangi D M, Musoke A J, Mahan S, Wells C W, McGuire T C; Monoclonal antibody binding to a Surface-exposed epitope on Cowdria ruminantium that is conserved among eight strains. Clincal and diagnostic laboratory immunology, Nov 2000 983-986 Vol 7, no.6.

 2. Tissue culture responses of elite Kenyan maize inbred lines via somatic embryogenesis.
*John K. Sitieney 1, Josephine M. Songa1,   Jesse Machuka 2, Eliud N. M Njagi 2

1Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).
2Kenyatta University box 43844 Nairobi
*Corresponding Author address sitieneyjk@yahoo.com
Tel 0726433325

(International conference proceedings The 1st All African conference of Biotechnology Nairobi August 2008)