Dr. Munissi research interests focus on the chemistry of natural products from plants and microorganisms. She has wide experience and skills in purification of secondary metabolites by chromatographic techniques and identification of the structures of the chemical compounds using modern spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques. She is also interested in establishing the potential of the compounds in drug discovery, thus the isolated compounds are evaluated for their cytotoxicity, anticancer, antibacterial, antitubercular, antifungal, antiviral, antidiabetic and neuroprotective properties. She is also keen on improving or enhancing the activities and bioavailability of the secondary metabolites through nanotechnology for efficient and efficient delivery of the active agent to intended molecular targets. She has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has supervised six Ph.d and seventeen M.Sc. candidates. She has examined postgraduate dissertations and theses from various universities inside and outside the country. Her publications can be viewed at https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&user=1gwwH60AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=title; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joan-Munissi; She is a Sida/SAREC beneficiary, DAAD Scholar and the 2009 fellow of the UNESCO/L’Oreal fellowship for Women in Science. Dr. Joan Munissi has received research grants/research support from the International Foundation for Science (IFS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Swedish Research Council (SRC) and University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). She has been a research visitor at the University of Florida (USA), University of Goettingen (Germany), University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and University of Surrey (UK). Dr. Munissi is a Treasurer for the Tanzania Chemical Society (TCS) and has served on a number of committees in the country. She has organised a number of high profile international conferences and symposia and was able to attract financial support from various organisations and institutions including ISP, UDSM, IUCEA, OPCW, IUPAC, UNEP, PhosAgro, ACS, GIZ-ICS, Bakhresa Group, TBS, GCLA, NEMC etc. She has held administrative posts at UDSM including serving as the Deputy Director of Undergraduate studies (2018/2019 – 20202021 triennium) and currently, Coordinator in the Office of Director of Undergraduate Studies through which she has immensely contributed in pushing the academic business forward towards realising the University’s goals.
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