Profile – Professor (Mrs.) Antonia Yarney Tetteh

 Prof. (Mrs.) Antonia Yarney Tetteh is an enthusiastic and talented instructor, and researcher with a passion to inspire students to pursue academic and research excellence of originality and creativity approach to devise innovative solutions in food security and the biotechnology industry. Significant track record of research success with substantial published articles in reputable journals, book chapter, and conference presentations.

Antonia Tetteh began her work as a Biochemist/Food Science and Agricultural Chemist in KNUST, Kumasi, in 1992 and branched into Plant Breeding and Genetics with Biotechnology in 2003. Beginning from KNUST where she earned her BSc Biochemistry, she continued to McGill University Canada for MSc in Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry. In 2003, she studied at the African Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in Arusha, Tanzania, then continued in 2005 in North Carolina State University, Raleigh, U.S.A., for a PhD in Horticultural Science, majoring in Plant Breeding and Genetics and minor in Biotechnology and Statistics, with a thesis on breeding for powdery mildew resistance in cucurbits. In 2008, she was appointed post-doctoral research fellow in biotechnology at the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE), North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Back in KNUST in 2009, her responsibilities have encompassed research in maize genetics and biotechnology, particularly diversity in climate adaptive traits; breeding science and genomics in bast fiber crops of Ghana (kenaf, jute, and roselle); and biotechnology of amylase production from amylolytic bacteria; and biotechnology research into retting for bast fiber production. She also has rich research experience in the biochemistry of cocoa fermentation for optimum aroma development, and research into gums and stabilizers for the food industry.

Antonia has supervised many masters and PhD students in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Department of Crop and Soil Science, and Department of Food Science and Technology, many of whom are employed in reputable organizations.

Her teaching covers both undergraduate courses (Biophysics, Methods in Plant Tissue Culture) and graduate courses (Agricultural Biotechnology, Population and Quantitative Genetics, Genetic Resources and Crop Improvement Technologies).

Her service to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology in the past includes Head of Department, curriculum development, and coordinator of graduate programs, quality assurance chairperson, and many more. She has served on a number of boards in the University such as, Board of Faculty of Agriculture, College of Health Sciences Board, and Housing Committee. National activities include member of the curriculum review committee for Diploma programs in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Midwifery and Nursing, Nalerigu, and curriculum review for the PhD Plant Breeding and Biotechnology of the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Fumesua. She was also a resource person in the training of technologists for biochemistry of wastewater purification in the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited, Takoradi, in 2017.  International activities include External Examiner for University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, and curriculum development meetings on MSc Cultivar Development in Kenya, and an AWARD mentor.

Antonia has been a member of Crop Science Society of America, member of the Association of American University Women, member of the American Association of Horticultural Science, and member of Ghana Science Association.

Professor Antonia Tetteh’s plant breeding program enjoys excellent cooperation with the Department of Horticulture and the Department of Crop Science, KNUST, for research fields in Anwomaso Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Horticulture research fields, and Plantation Fields.

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