Francis Muya

Email: fntumba ‘at’uwc.ac.za

2014- 2017 (PhD Degree) – University of the Western Cape

Research Topics: Francis Muya did one year postdoc working on hydrogelenapsulated biosensoer development and was appointed as lecturer in Chemistry on 01 February 2019. He works on the development of novel chemically cross linked hydrogel materials which he has applied for the detection of trace metal ions of biological importance such as Se and V, the construction of biosensors based on enzyme encapsulation and metal ligand complexation studies.

He has a wide range of technical skills and Analytical Chemistry to second year, 4th year and Masters students, on topics such as Mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV/vis and FTIR spectroscopy as well as a wide range of electrochemical methods AC as well as DC. His expertise lies in analytical application of chemical and biosensors to environmental matrices. Current research focuses on the development of alkaline phosphatase biosensors for the detection of vanadium, following Michaelis-Menten kinetic modelling. Vanadium, has been identified as a potential human carcinogen and a fundamental understanding of metal species bioavailability and transformation in various matrices is crucial to the development of sensor and biosensor systems.

Scientific production : 4 peer reviewed publications, 2 under review

Communications : 5 invited conferences, co-author of 11 oral presentations and publications

Supervision: 2 Master ongoing, 1 Master completed

5 major publications:

  1. Environmental remediation of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution through hydrogel adsorption: A critical review. Francis Ntumba Muya, Christopher Sunday, Priscilla Baker, Emmanuel Iwuoha. Journal of water science and technology 2016, 73 (5) 983-992; DOI: 10.2166/wst.2015.567
  2. Polysulfone Nanocomposite Membranes with improved hydrophilicity. Lisebo Phelane, Francis N. Muya, Heidi L. Richards, Priscilla G.L. Baker, Emmanuel I Iwuoha. Electrochimica Acta 128, p. 326–335 (2014).
  3. Synthesis and characterization of polysulfone hydrogels. Muya, F.N., L. Phelane, P. Baker, and E. Iwouha. Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 2014(4): p. 227-236.
  4. Sensory Properties of Polysulfone Hydrogel for Electro-Analytical Profiling of vanadium and selenium in Aqueous Solutions. Muya, F.N, F. N. Muya, X. T. Ngema, P. G. L. Baker, E. Iwuoha.  J. Nano Res., vol. 44, pp. 142–157, 2016.
  5. Polysulfone hydrogel nanocomposite alkaline phosphatase biosensor for the detection of Vanadium. Francis Ntumba Muya, Priscilla Baker and Emmanuel Iwuoha (under review Electrocatalysis, 2019)