Steven Runo

Steven Runo is a Kenyan researcher who is a professor at Kenyatta University. Runo has extensively studied the pathogens of African cereal crops, including Striga. He was awarded the 2020 Royal Society Africa Prize.

Early life and education Runo was born in Kenya. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at Kenyatta University. Runo moved to the United States for his doctoral research, where he joined the University of California, Davis and worked alongside Neelima Sinha. It was here where he started working on long-distance RNA trafficking, focussing initially on communication between Cuscuta and tomatoes.

Whilst Striga-resistant cereal crops can be grown, they typically mutate into versions that are not tolerant to attack. It is estimated that crops lost to Striga cost up to $200 million a year, and each plant can produce up to 500,000 seeds. To achieve these aims, Runo has investigated the trafficking of RNA molecules between parasitic plants.

Runo is part of the GEMADOT (Genetically Modified for Drought Tolerance) project that looks to identify and develop drought tolerant maize varieties that can prevent food insecurity in Africa.

In 2020 Runo was awarded the Royal Society Africa Prize, "For elucidating pathways for long distance RNA trafficking between parasitic plants and their hosts and identifying and developing transgenic protocol for characterizing and validating candidate host and parasite genes,"

Selected publications