Gaymary George Bakari is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture. She completed her PhD at the Sokoine University in 2014 and her research work was titled “Biological activity of extracts from Commiphora swynnertonii against microbes of veterinary importance in chickens” which was funded by the Carnegie RISE -AFNNET Network.  

Bakari’s area of interest is natural medicinal plants. She is currently supervising two PhD students who are working on two medicinal plants used to control rats and to treat small ruminants’ morbillivirus. Bakari has presented her research findings at several conferences and workshops in more than 18 peer-reviewed articles in reputable academic journals. Apart from teaching, she is also involved in research and mentoring more than 30 undergraduate and 10 postgraduate students. 

Project - Formulation, validation and promotion of products from C. Swynnertonii resin  

The project is developing an oral and topical formulations /products from C. Swynnertonii resin for medical and veterinary uses. This is a continuation of Bakari’s PhD work, which aims at adding value to C swynnertonii resin. Commiphora swynnertonii demonstrated to have significant activities against different microbes of veterinary and public health importance in different animal species. Furthermore, resin was shown to significantly reduce blood sugar and cholesterol.

Some of these findings corroborated well with what pastoralists and traditional healers claim as beneficial effects of using the resin. Given the promising findings from her previous studies, she is now conducting a study, in collaborations with a pharmaceutical company, to formulate topical remedies (ointments, lotion and creams) for treating wounds and skin conditions as well as oral preparation (soft gel/capsule) for controlling blood sugar and cholesterol. This study is anticipated to come up with production of tested patented and sellable products/remedies from C. swynnertonii resin.