Prof. Josiah O. Omolo is an associate professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Egerton University. He was a former Director, Marketing and Resource Mobilization (2016 - 2021) and a former Dean, Faculty of Science (2011 – 2015), where he served for the allowable two terms of two-year each. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Chemistry, specializing in Natural Products Chemistry within Organic Chemistry. The PhD degree was obtained from Kenyatta University in a sandwich programme with Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Chemistry from Kenyatta University, Kenya. He has a long-standing experience working with plants and fungi from unique Kenyan eco-habitats targeting biologically significant small molecules (secondary metabolites). He is trained in and continues to conduct research in fungal biotechnology for secondary metabolites production, their separation techniques and structure elucidation of the chemical structures. His focus on biologically active plant and fungal secondary metabolites it to discover natural compounds with potential applications in agriculture, public health, human and animal health. He has experience in setting bioassays for screening and efficacy testing. In his research laboratory there are established systems and expertise in bioactivity guided separation of active compounds in crude extracts, which are obtained from plant material, and mycelial and extracellular fungal cultures. Some of the established bioassays are; antifungal, antibacterial, antiplasmodial, antioxidant, larvicidal, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal. He has successfully supervised several undergraduate and postgraduate students and works in collaboration with researchers locally and internationally.
