Area of specialization: Phycology, Aquatic Botany, Algal Ecology, Taxonomy and Biotechnology, Environmental Botany

Taofikat Adesalu is an Associate Professor of Botany, and a Fulbright Scholar (2005) at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, U.S.A. She was the former Subdean, School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Lagos and a member of panelist for Federal Ministry of Environment on Environmental Impact Assessment review.

Her research focus is on algal ecology, taxonomy, systematics and biotechnology. These lower green plants are amazingly found almost everywhere. Taofikat is keenly interested in applying her work on algae, to unravel the effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems and to solve some of the nutritional problems as these organisms are rich in vitamins, secondary metabolites, lipids and anti-oxidants. Through her research, Taofikat has contributed to algal flora of Nigeria and Africa and her findings resulted in three new species, Paraphysomonas nigeriensis, Acanthocystis nigeriensis (named after Nigeria) and Discotella oyannensis (named after Oyan Dam, Ogun State) and first record of Spicaticribra for Africa. Her work also established the presence of poly-unsaturated fatty acids in some algal strains which has potential for food processing and other bio-based products. Her long-term research goals focus on utilizing morphology, molecular based evolutionary tree and for applications (Biotechnology) of these green plants in areas of food supplements, animal and fish feeds, biodiesel and in cosmetics.