POSTPONED GCMS Training: A Hands on Approach Kenya 2020

Local Trainer for the GC-MS training Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya He holds a B.Sc degree in Chemistry from University of Nairobi, M.Sc degree in Analytical Science and Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry from The University of Hull, UK in 1991. He the proceeded to University of Plymouth for Post-Doctoral fellowship, in a project on fabrication and design of flow through chemiluminescence detector for application in flow injection and liquid chromatography. Prof Gachanja is the Head of the Analytical Laboratory at Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and Technology, with a vibrant research group. The group is involved in environmental and analytical research in areas of air and water quality: now working on emerging pollutants e.g. pharmaceuticals and homecare products in the environment, pesticide residues, use of Nano cellulose in water purification, gaseous and particulate pollution in air. Prof Gachanja has been working with the RSC and GSK to train researchers in Africa on GC-MS instrumentation and application. He is among the “175 faces of Chemistry” He is a visiting scientist at the University of Plymouth (UK) and Jyvaskyla University (Finland)

Martin Murigi is a final year MSc student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and works in Prof. Anthony Gachanja’s lab. His work involves development of nanocellulose filters from rice straw for adsorption of active pharmaceutical ingredients in surface water and waste water. He has worked with GCMS and LC/MSMS in the course of his work and has tremendously benefited from several GCMS trainings offered at JKUAT. He has been instrumental in assisting other researchers working with GCMS in Prof Anthony’s lab.

Abiy graduated with BSc degree in Chemistry from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in 1985. He then worked as a research assistant at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Ermias Dagne until 1988 when he joined University of Nairobi to conduct his MSc degree in Chemistry. Upon completion of his MSc degree, he rejoined Addis Ababa University as a research staff. In 1994 he was admitted at the University of Nairobi for PhD research in Natural Products Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jacob O. Midiwo. Upon completion of his PhD in 1997, he was appointed as a lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, University of Nairobi. Over the years he has been promoted through the ranks of Senior Lecturer (2002-2006), Associate Professor (2006-2015) and Professor of Chemistry (since 2015). He has an extensive experience in teaching of Organic Chemistry and conducting research in the field of Natural Products Chemistry. His research in the investigation of Eastern African plants for bioactive natural products has resulted in the publication of over 80 articles in peer reviewed journals. He has also co-authored three books on medicinal plants of East Africa. He has served as reviewer to several international journals and examined over 30 PhD and MSc theses originating from different in African universities. He is currently a subject editor of the journal Phytochemistry Letters, which is the official organ of the Phytochemical Society of Europe. In his career as a natural products chemist, he has closely worked with national, regional and international scientists across the world. In terms of mentorship, Abiy has cosupervised thirteen PhD and thirty two MSc students (including some from Eastern African region) to completion. He has served as the Programme Officer (2006-2009), and later as the Assistant Secretary (2009-2013) of a regional organization called, the Natural Product Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA). As one of the leaders of this network, he has been involved in organizing a number of symposia and workshops, and also coordinated postgraduate scholarships, which has promoted collaborative research in the region. He has served as a resource person in workshops organised by NAPRECA whose major themes include Spectroscopy and Chromatography. In recognition of his contribution to the advancement of chemical science in Africa, he was elected in 2017 as a Fellow of African Academy of Sciences (FAAS).

Mr. Charles Mirikau holds a Master Of Science degree from the University of Nairobi. He has been lecturing in Environmental Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry for over 20 years, focusing on analysis on various pollutants in a cross section of environmental matrices. He has special interest in instruments and has worked with a wide array of them including Chromatographic Systems (GC and LC systems) and Spectroscopic systems (NMR etc.). He has trained many chemists within the academic circles and outside in the use and maintenance of analytical instruments and imparting skills on how to keep these high level instruments functional with minimal resources.

Elijah Ngumba, PhD, is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Chemistry Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya. He graduated with PhD in Environmental Technology in 2018 from University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He also holds BSc. Chemistry (2006) and MSc. Chemistry (2011) both from JKUAT. He has been working on analytical method development for emerging environmental contaminants based on solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (SPE-LC-MS/MS). He has published and presented in local and international conferences on analytical method development as well as occurrence and control of emerging environmental contaminants.

I am an MSc. Analytical chemistry student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. My current work focusses on monitoring of veterinary drug and pesticide residues in food products. I work extensively with LC-MS and GC-MS in my research and have greatly benefitted from both the RSC/PACN training workshops on both techniques. I work in prof. Gachanja’s chromatography lab where I assist fellow student researchers working with LC-MS and GC-MS.