Designation: Chief Lecturer
Office: @ the School of Applied Science & Technology
Tel: +2347060565347
Email: megomo2013@gmail.com
I am a Ph. D holder in Food Microbiology from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. I have been lecturing since 2009 in the Food Technology Department. My areas of interest are Food Processing, Preservation and Food Product Development. My research covers Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria, Isolation and Characterization of Food Spoilage Fungi. Development of functional foods such as Probiotic cashew apple fruit juice, instant spiced bean flour, locally sourced weaning food and food condiment. I have authored about 25 peer reviewed journals both international and nationally. I have equally presented scholarly articles at academic conferences both international and nationally. I belong to relevant professional bodies. During my Post Doctoral Programme at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, I learnt the different techniques in bacterial DNA extraction and quantification for bacterial sequencing. I have supervised more than 50 students at both ND and HND levels. I am currently, the Programme Coordinator of my department at the School of Evening Studies. I am married and blessed with children.
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) (Food Microbiology)(Sept. 2017). Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Ph.D. Thesis Title: Probiotic beverage from cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale l.) juice fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus and lactobacillus plantarum
Member, America Society of Microbiology (MASM)
Member, Nigerian Society of Microbiology (MNSM)
Isolation and Characterization of Food Spoilage Fungi.
Development of functional foods such as Probiotic cashew apple fruit juice, instant spiced bean flour, locally sourced weaning food and food condiment.
Lactic Acid Bacteria of the Genus Lactobacillus was isolated, characterized molecularly and screened in-vivo for Probiotic potentials. The screened Probiotic Lactobacillus spp were used to produce Probiotic cashew apple fruit juice. This was my Ph.D research project, the project was sponsored by Tetfund (2013-2017), The Ph.D Grant was #1.5M.
I did an Institution Based Research in 2019 sponsored by TETFUND titled: Instant Bean Flour from Undehulled Brown Beans, Crayfish, Dried fish and Dried onions called BECRAFO. Proximate analysis, mineral composition, organoleptic properties and antinutrients present in the product were evaluated. The cost of this Grant was #1.2M
I was nominated for a Tetfund sponsored Post Doctoral programme at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA September, 2021- August, 2022. The cost of this programme was #11.5M. My research work was on Metagenomic Studies of Microbial Community of Fermented Cereal Grains. This is the current approach in biological research (Bioinformatics). It involves the use of computer to analyze the DNA of microorganisms with the aim of knowing their phylogeny and their structural functions. Metagenomic is the use of modern genomics techniques to study microbial communities in their natural environments without using isolation and laboratory cultivation (Handelsman, 2004). Metagenetics involves the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify specific genomic region using whole-community DNA, followed by high-throughput sequencing of the amplicons obtained.
For bacteria study one or several hypervariable regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene is/are targeted, whereas for fungi, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rRNA operon or the 18S or 26S rRNA genes are targeted (Esposito and Kirschberg, 2014).
Quick-DNATM extration kit by Zymo research was used to extract DNA from 250μl of cereal gruel slurry (ogi) and the supernatant water (omidun). Extracted DNA was amplified using Polymerase chain reaction. Amplified DNA were quantified using gel electrophoresis, Amplified DNA were sequenced. Sequenced DNA were analyzed using the following softwares: Putty, qiime2, , DADA2 and PICRUSt2 connected to the supercomputer Bridges2. Putty was used as the secure shell client on bridges2. QIIME2 was used to import the amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) otherwise called Fastq using globus personal connect to the supercomputer.