Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Suresh Kumar Dubey is Associate Professor in the Molecular Ecology Lab at the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, India. His interests include structure and function of microbial community involved in controlling the methane emission, screening and utilization of microbes for their potential role in bioremediation, studies on prevalence of some pathogenic microbes in clinical and food samples and their response for drug resistance. He has been the editor of the Indian Journal of Microbiologysince 2009 and has won multiple awards for his work, including Biotech Research Society of India Young Scientist Medal 2004, DST- BOYSCAST Govt of India fellowship 2006, INSA visiting fellowship 2012, and JSPS Invitation fellowship 2012 among others. Professor Ashok Pandey is currently Distinguished Scientist at the Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India and Executive Director (Honorary) at the Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability – India. Formerly, he was Eminent Scientist at the Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali and Chief Scientist & Head of Biotechnology Division and Centre for Biofuels at CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum. His major research and technological development interests are industrial & environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels & chemicals, waste to wealth & energy, industrial enzymes, etc. Professor Pandey is Adjunct/Visiting Professor/Scientist in universities in France, Brazil, Canada, China, Korea, South Africa, and Switzerland and also in several universities several in India. He has ~1425 publications/communications, which include 16 patents, 90 books, >700 papers and book chapters, etc with h index of 105 and ~48,800 citations (Goggle scholar). He has transferred several technologies to industries and has done industrial consultancy for about a dozen projects for Indian/international industries. Professor Pandey is the recipient of many national and international awards and honours, which include Highest Cited Researcher (Top 1% in the world), Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science (2020, 2019 & 2018); Top scientist in Biotechnology (#1 in India and #8 in the world), Stanford University world ranking (2020); Fellow, World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies?(2020); Fellow, Indian Chemical Society (2020); Distinguished Scientist, VDGOOD Professional Association, India (2020); Distinguished Professor of Eminence with global impact in the area of Biotechnology, Precious Cornerstone University, Nigeria (2020); IconSWM Life-time Achievement Award 2019, International Society for Solid Waste Management, KIIT, Bhubaneshwar, India (2019); Yonsei Outstanding Scholar, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea (2019); Life-Time Achievement Award from the Biotech Research Society, India (2018); Life-Time Achievement Award from Venus International Research Awards (2018), Most Outstanding Researcher Award from Career360 (2018), Life-Time Achievement Award from the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (2017); Fellow, Royal Society of Biology, UK (2016); Felow, International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (2016); Academician of European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Austria (2015); Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India (2012); Fellow, Association of Microbiologists of India (2008); Honorary Doctorate degree from Univesite Blaise Pascal, France (2007); Fellow, International Organization of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2007); Thomson Scientific India Citation Laureate Award, USA (2006); Fellow, the Biotech Research Society, India (2005); UNESCO Professor (2000); Raman Research Fellowship Award, CSIR (1995); GBF, Germany and CNRS, France Fellowships (1992) and Young Scientist Award (1989), etc. Professor Pandey is Founder President of the Biotech Research Society, India (www.brsi.in); Founder & International Coordinator of International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses, France (www.ifibiop.org), Chairman of the International Society for Energy, Environment & Sustainability (www.isees.in), Editor-in-chief of Bioresource Technology (http://ees.elsevier.com/bite/), Honorary Executive Advisor of Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability (www.jees.in), Journal of Systems Microbiology and Biomanufacturing (https://www.springer.com/journal/43393), Journal of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (http://neerijese.org/editorial-board/), Subject Editor, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, India (https://www.springer.com/life+sciences/journal/40011) and Associate Editor, Biologia – Section Cellular and Molecular Biology (https://www.springer.com/journal/11756/editors) and editorial board member of several international and Indian journals. Dr. Rajender Singh Sangwan is Founder Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), a national institute at Mohali (Punjab) under Department of Biotechnology (Govt. of India). Also, he continues to be co-affiliated with CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow (India), as Chief Scientist. Dr. Sangwan (M.Sc., 1981; Ph.D., 1987, from Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India) has worked as a faculty at CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) at Lucknow since 1986 at various levels upto Chief Scientist as well as Founder Head of Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology. His profile of project/program/mission leadership include NMITLI Program on Ashwagandha at CSIR-CIMAP, CSIR’s Inter-Laboratory Network Programme on Chemical and Biological Transformations for Value-Addition, CSIR’s Inter-Institutional Network Research Program on 'Plants and Animals as Bioreactor'. As a founder head of CIAB, he leads translational research and innovation programmes on bioprocessing of agri-food and other bioresources. CIAB represents the first institutionalized Secondary Agriculture Initiative in India for R&D on value added products of edible and non-edible nature through integration of chemical and biological processes. His current research interests pertain to Translational Research and Innovations for Secondary Agriculture Biotechnology, covering Primary and Secondary Phytochemicals/Metabolites, Edible and Non-Edible Value-Added Products from Bioresources, Secondary Agriculture Technology Applications, Nutritional and Nutraceutical Products, Alternate Bio/Production Approaches including Synthetic Biology. He has more than 125 publications in leading international journals and books attracting more than 3000 citations with a H-index of 33 and an i10-Index of 71. He has several patents and elite medicinal and aromatic plant varieties to his credit. He members several academic and governing bodies of scientific organizations. He has been awarded with several scientific and academic honours and recognitions including IUBMB Young Scientist (Travel) Award (1992), CSIR Young Scientist (1994), Prof. Umakant Sinha Memorial Award of Indian Science Congress (1997), Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (India), CSIR Technology Award in Life Sciences (2015).

1. World Agriculture and the Impact of Biotechnology2. Effect of Climate Change on Agricultural Crops3. Insect-Resistant Plants4. Engineering Resistance to Plant Viruses5. Drought-Tolerant Plants6. Genetically Engineered Plants Against Bacterial and Fungal Diseases7. Chloroplast Metabolic Engineering for Sustainable Agriculture8. Transgenic Plants and Soil Microbes9. Marker-Assisted Selection in Disease Resistance Breeding10. Abiotic Stress in the Production of Food Grains and Methods to Alleviate the Impact of Stress11. Novel Technologies for Plant Functional Genomics/12. Biotechnological Intervention for Therapeutic Molecules Through Hairy Root Cultures of Medicinal Plants