Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era

Prof. Surajit Das is currently working at the Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India. He received his doctoral degree in Marine Biology with specialization in microbiology from the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India. He has been awarded the Endeavour Research Fellowship by the Australian Government to conduct postdoctoral research on marine microbial technology at the University of Tasmania. He has more than 15 years of research experience in environmental biotechnology, marine microbiology, bacterial biofilm, waste water treatment, and bioremediation. Prof. Das has maintained a strong commitment to explore the diversity of marine microorganisms from tropical, coastal, mangrove, and deep-sea environments using taxonomic and molecular tools. The main goal of his research is to understand the genetic regulation of bacterial biofilm for the improvement and development of biofilm-mediated bioremediation, thereby restoring the deteriorating environment as an eco-friendly approach. Dr. Hirak Ranjan Dash is an Assistant Professor of Forensic Biotechnology at the National Forensic Sciences University, Delhi Campus, India. He obtained his PhD degree in Life Science from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. Previously, he served as a DNA expert at Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhya Pradesh, India. His research interests include forensic microbiology, microbial phylogeny, forensic DNA analysis, genetic markers, and next generation sequencing. He has published 50 research papers and 9 books. He has previously received a research fellowship from the Indian Academy of Science. He is a pioneer in India working on NGS-based forensic DNA analysis. He is a life member of the Association of Microbiologists of India, International Society of Forensic Geneticists, and Asian Federation of Biotechnologists.

Section I: Overview of microbial diversity 1.1 Methods of assessment of microbial diversity in natural environments 1.2 Metagenomic Achievements in Microbial Diversity Determination in Croplands: A Review 1.3 Genomic diversity and evolution of rhizobia 1.4 Microbial biodiversity study of a brackish water ecosystem in eastern India: The Chilika Lake 1.5 Microbial diversity and community analysis of Sundarban mangrove, the world heritage site

Section II: Molecular tools in microbial diversity 2.1Analysing Functional Microbial Diversity: An Overview of Techniques 2.2 Genetic analysis of the bacterioplankton biology and ecology through next-generation high-throughput molecular techniques

  Gurdeep Rastogi, Pratiksha Behera, and Madhusmita Mohapatra 2.3 Molecular tools in microbial diversity: Functional assessment tool of genome and metagenome by MAPLE 2.4 A polyphasic taxonomic approach for designation and description of novel microbial species 2.5 Biochemical strategies to counter nitrosative stress: Nanofactories for value-added products 2.6 Exploring microbial diversity and function in petroleum hydrocarbon associated environments through Omics approaches

Section III: Extremophilic microbial diversity 3.1 Diversity of Psychrophilic Bacteria in Sea and Glacier Ice environments – Insights through Genomics, Metagenomics and Proteomics Approaches 3.2 Microbial diversity of thermophiles through the lens of next generation sequencing 3.3 Microbial ecology in extreme acidic environments: use of molecular tools 3.4 Alkaliphiles: Diversity and bioprospection 3.5Cyanobacteria from Brazilian extreme environments: toward functional exploitation 3.6 Comparative genomics of Halobacterium strains from diverse locations 3.7 Microbial community dynamics of extremophiles/extreme environment 3.8 Opening the black box of thermophilic autotrophic bacterial diversity

Section IV: Functional Microbial Diversity 4.1Functional microbial diversity in context to agriculture 4.2 Functional microbial diversity in contaminated environment and application in bioremediation 4.3 Structural and functional diversity of microbial metallothionein genes 4.4 Functional diversity of bacterial strategies to cope with metal toxicity 4.5 Functional microbial diversity: Functional genomics and metagenomics using MAPLE 4.6 Linking the environmental microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance 4.7 Applications of metagenomics in microbial bioremediation of pollutants: From genomics to environmental cleanup

Section V: Microbial diversity and infectious diseases 5.1 Molecular techniques for diagnosis of bacterial plant pathogens 5.2 Molecular techniques for the study of microbial diversity with special emphasis on drug resistant microbes 5.3 Exploring human bacterial diversity towards prevention of infectious disease and health promotion 5.4 Prevalence of Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pumps (MDREPs) in Environmental Communities 5.5 Pathogenic microbial genetic diversity with reference to significant medical and public health

Section VI: Future directions of microbial diversity studies 6.1 Understanding the structure and function of extreme microbiome through genomics: scope and challenges 6.2 The role and future possibilities of next-generation sequencing in studying microbial diversity 6.3 Taxonomical diversity of extremophiles in the deep biosphere 6.4 Molecular evolution of Xenobiotic-degrading genes and mobile DNA elements in soil bacteria