Dr Tomi Lois Olatunji is a promising, young, and dynamic female researcher willing to take on new challenges in plant research and development with a keen interest in bio-nanotechnology, nutraceuticals, crop improvement, phytomedicine, molecular plant biology, and plant taxonomy. She graduated from the Department of Plant Biology of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 2011, and also obtained a master’s degree in the same department in 2015 specializing in Applied Genetics and Plant Breeding, with a rated score of 72.06%. She holds a Doctoral (PhD) degree in Botany from the University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa in 2019.
Her PhD research was geared at understanding the relatedness among the varieties of two Capsicum species in West Africa using a multi-evidenced based approach and the evaluation of their bioactivities. This was carried out to provide baseline data for the effective selection of suitable parental genotypes in breeding programmes as well as providing useful information for the nutritionists and the pharmaceutical industry, particularly, in respect of capsaicin and antioxidant vitamin contents of the capsicum varieties.
Dr Olatunji's current interest in bio-nanotechnology for the treatment of lung cancer stems from the recent promising advancement of nanotechnology (a key area of the Fourth Industrial Revolution) research in treating several human tumours.
