Dr. Omari Amuka
Ethnobotany Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies Phytochemicals and Medicinal Plants Phytochemical compounds biological activities Phytochemistry Medicinal Plant Applications Phytochemistry and Biological Activities Medicinal Plant Research Medicinal Plant Pharmacodynamics Research Phytochemistry and Bioactive Compounds Pathogenic bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae Enterococcus faecalis Klebsiella Enterococcus Antibacterial activity Phytomedicine Biomaterials Complementary and alternative medicine Molecular Biology Pharmacology Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Plant Science

Bio

Dr. Omari Amuka is a botanist and ethnobotanist based at Maseno University in Kenya, where he is affiliated with the Department of Applied Plant Sciences. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Botany, specializing in Ethnobotany, from Kenyatta University. Dr. Amuka's research focuses on the antibacterial and antifungal properties of essential oils and plant extracts, with notable studies on Satureia biflora, Lippia javanica, Toddalia asiatica, and Erythrina excelsa. He has authored 18 publications that have collectively accumulated 73 citations, reflecting an h-index of 4 and an i10-index of 2. His work contributes significantly to the understanding of natural products and their potential applications in combating microbial infections.

Educational Journey

Kenyatta University

Doctor of Philosophy in Botany • Ethnobotany

Experience

0 - Present • Applied Plant Sciences

Research

Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Essential Oils from Satureia Biflora D. Don, Benth, Speng (Chepsagitiet). Lippia Javanica Burm.F. (Labotuet) and Toddalia asiatica (L) Lam. Rutaceae (Chepindoruet)

Article August 16, 2014

Three plants, parts used, by the Ogiek community as medicines were collected from Marioshoni in the Mau Forest Complex in the Rift Valley of Kenya, idenfied at the National Museums in Nairobi; S. biflora Voucher No.AO/08/12/12/2006 L. javanica O/015/NMK/06/12/2007 T. asiatica Voucher No. AO/017/NMK/04/07/2007. Each plant species was steam distilled individually. All yielded oils that were separately assayed against some known pathogens that inflict maladies in humans. The two species showed some markable antimicrobial activities for instance, S. biflora was effective against S. aureus, K. pneumoniae and E. coli including all their drug resistant strains. The essential oils from all the three plant species possessed activities against all the strains of S. aureus, different zones of inhibitions L. javanica is amongst other medicinal essential oils that have been studied elsewhere and proved useful medically. However, S. biflora which has varied activities when screened in the laboratory in vitro has not been studied exhaustively. The plant oil extracts gave promising results against both Gram-ve and Gram +ve bacteria. T. asiatica showed good activities against the bacteria and some known pathogenic fungi Further studies on wet bench chemistry and GC showed known classes of compounds which are of known medicinal values were present. It was recommended that further studies be done to ascertain if they can be used as phytomedicine or as components of current allopathic drugs.