Research Topics

Sample Research and Select Plants for Research

Boswellia sp. Dr Peng.

Frankincense is the resin of the Boswellia sp tree.  It has been traded on the Arabian Peninsula for more than 6,000 years. Frankincense is used in religious ceremonies as incense, traditional medicine, and perfume industry. The Boswellia sp tree typically grows in the dry, mountainous regions of India, Africa and the Middle East. The tree is economically important: in some area, about 30% of household income is attributed to frankincense. There are two species grown in Kenya, B. sacra and. B. neglecta. B neglecta is particularly well suited to the dryland in Ethiopia and Kenya. The purpose of this project is to use metabolomics method to identify the chemical profile of the frankincense from Kenya. The frankincense will be extracted using different organic solvents. HPTLC and LC/MS conditions will be explored. The resulted chromatogram will be recorded and analysis to see which compounds are existing in the extracts. The essential oil of frankincense will also be used to compare. The result can be used for identification and quality analysis for frankincense.

Withania somnifera. Dr Peng.

The root of Withania somnifera is a popular Ayurvedic herb, Ashwagandha, which is used to promote physical and mental health, rejuvenate the body in debilitated conditions and increase longevity. The W. somnifera is small evergreen shrub. India is the major producer of this product. The major bioactive ingredients in ashwagandha are withanolides. Since the stems, leaves, and the fruits also contain withanolides, adulterant of these plants parts in ashwagandha was reported.

In this experiment, the roots, stems, leaves, and fruits will be collected and extracted sing methanol. The USP HPTLC and HPLC condition will be used to test the withanolides and other components in these samples. The components and concentration of withanolides in all parts of the plants will be compared. This results will help in evaluation of if the aerial parts of the plant can be used as alternation of ashwagandha and if the aerial parts can be used as a source of withanolides.

Analysis of Acacia reficiens and Acacia nilotica using HPTLC. Dr. Peggoty Mutai.

The Acacia genus is commonly used traditionally by many communities in Kenya, including the Ilkisonko Maasai, who are a pastoralist group that still engages in traditional practices. An ethnobotanical survey carried out by our department in 2015 revealed that the Ilkisonko Maasai use at least 6 different species for food and medicinal purposes. A study by our department on the anti- inflammatory effects of some of these species revealed that four of these plants (Acacia drepanolobium, Acacia nilotica, Acacia reficiens and Acacia robusta) possessed good in vivo activity when assessed using the carrageenan-induced rat paw edema assay. For this project, we propose to carry out the fingerprint analysis of Acacia reficiens and Acacia nilotica using HPTLC. This is important as the Acacias generally look alike, grow in the same climatic conditions and can easily be confused.

Analysis of Aloe vera using HPTLC. Dr Margaret Uluka

Aloe vera is a plant commonly used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. It is grown in many homesteads in Kenya and is used for first aid. It is grown commercially in Baringo county and used in the manufacture of soaps and for export.

Given that a number of Aloe species grow in the same area, a fingerprint analysis of Aloe vera using HPTLC would be useful in quality control and to prevent possible adulteration with related herbal products.

Dr Solomon Deresa. Over the years we have worked on the phytochemistry and biological activity of secondary metabolites isolated from Kenyan medicinal plants. Our research has resulted in the characterization of secondary metabolites with unique scaffolds that can be further developed for the development of lead compounds with unique skeleton and probably new mode of action. One of the plants which we studied for some time and resulted in the characterization of secondary metabolites with promising antiplasmodial activities is Erythrina abyssinica. It will be interesting to understand the secondary metabolite profiles of the secondary metabolites of this plant using HPTLC. This plant is suitable for the training due its rich diversity of UV active secondary metabolites that can easily be monitored using HPTLC.

Fungal Endophytes of Plants used in Traditional medicine. Prof Sheila Okoth, PhD & Dr Anne Osano.

A key component in understanding plant metabolites is the discovery over the past century of plant microbiomes (Compant et al, 2019). Plant microbiomes include diverse fungi and bacteria among other organisms, (Hardoim et al, 2015) that inhabit plant tissues such as leaves. Increasingly it is appreciated that the leaves of all plants on earth harbor fungal endophytes (Arnold, 2005). Fungal endophytes (endophytes) are fungi that live within healthy plant tissues. In tropical plants they often occupy the majority of leaf area. Most leaves in tropical plants harbor multiple species, such that tropical leaves are sometimes referred to as 'biodiversity hotspots' for these important fungi, (Arnold, 2002,2005). Endophytes contribute to plant health and resilience to stress in many ways, including through the production of secondary metabolites that can influence plants' responses to herbivores and pathogens. The diversity of endophytes, and their diverse repertoires of secondary metabolites, have led to great interest in discovery of novel natural products from endophytic fungi, especially in tropical regions (Strobel et al, 2005). The observation that endophytes are common in medicinal plants (Patel, 2014, Rubini et al. 2005; Tan and Zou 2001; Strobel and Daisy 2003) raises the question: are such endophytes responsible for the production of secondary metabolites attributed to the plant by cultural practitioners and scientists alike? Our labs are interested in categorizing the diversity of fungal endophytes in leaves of two plants of medicinal importance to the indigenous/traditional peoples of Kenya, i.e., Azadiracta indica (neem) and Melia azedarach (Melea).