29-Oct-2019 1700

Gbashi, Sefater (DTech)
Sefater Gbashi was born in Makurdi, Nigeria. He completed his secondary
education in 2005 at Government College Katsina-ala, and obtained his Bachelor’s
degree in 2011 from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. In 2016, he
completed an MTech Degree in Food Technology (Cum laude) at the University of
Johannesburg (UJ), following which he registered for a DTech degree. While at this
institution, Sefater received various scholarships including the Global Excellence
and Stature (GES) Scholarship for both his Master’s and Doctoral studies, and in
2018, the MYTOX-SOUTH PhD Traineeship Student Exchange Scholarship
allowed him to spend over four months at Ghent University, Belgium.
Effective management of mycotoxins rely on stringent regulation and routine
surveillance of agricultural commodities through efficient mycotoxin analysis and
interpretation of data, hence the continuous need for improved methods of
mycotoxin analysis. Sefater’s doctoral research focused on the development,
optimization and validation of a modified, pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE)
(instrument built in-house) method for mycotoxin analysis. This method was
developed as an efficient, cheaper, greener and faster alternative to conventional
methods for mycotoxin extraction. To the best of our knowledge, this constitutes the
first report on the use of PHWE for the extraction and analysis of mycotoxins in
food and feed. Research in this area is envisaged to promote bioanalytical
techniques that are more environmentally friendly and sustainable. The thesis has
resulted in two book chapters and one international peer-reviewed publication, with
two others under review for publication. The data obtained were also presented at
three international conferences.
Supervisor: Prof PB Njobeh
Co-supervisor: Dr E Madala
Co-supervisor: Prof S de Saeger (Ghent University, Belgium)
Co-supervisor: Dr M de Boevre (Ghent University, Belgium)
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