Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Dr. Sunita Varjani is Scientific Officer at Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Her major areas of research are Industrial and Environmental Microbiology/Biotechnology. She has worked as visiting scientist at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. Dr. Varjani has authored more than 110 publications, including research and review papers, books and book chapters. She has won several awards, including Young Scientist Awards from Association of Microbiologists of India, International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability and AFRO-ASIAN Congress on Microbes for Human and Environmental Health, New Delhi; Top Reviewer Award - 2017, Bioresource Technology, Elsevier and Best Paper Awards in national and international conferences in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2018. She is member of editorial board of Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability and has served as guest editor of special issues of Bioresource Technology, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, ASCE- Journal of Environmental Engineering and others. She is Management Council Member of the BRSI (www.brsi.in).

Scientific Officer, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

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.

Distinguished Scientist, Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India

Edgard Gnansounou is Professor of modelling and planning of Energy Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) where he is Director of the Bioenergy and Energy Planning Research Group. His current research works comprise techno-economic and environmental assessment of bio-refinery schemes based on conversion of agricultural residues. He is leading research projects in that field in several countries including Brazil, Colombia and South Africa. Edgard Gnansounou is credited with numerous papers in high impact scientific journals. He is member of the editorial board of Bioresource Technology. He graduated with a M.S. in Civil Engineering and Ph.D. in Energy Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. He was a visiting researcher at the Thayer College, Dartmouth School of Engineering with Professor Charles Wyman (USA), at Polytech of Clermont-Ferrand, University Blaise Pascal (France) and at the Center of Biofuels, the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum (India). He was also a visiting Professor of the African University of Science of Technology (Abuja, Nigeria). He is a citizen of Benin (Africa) and Switzerland. Professor Ashok Pandey is Deputy Director at CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology at Trivandrum and heading the Centre for Biofuels and Biotechnology Division there. Professor Pandey’s research interests are on bio-based economy development (biomass-based biorefinery) for the production of fuels and chemicals. He has >1000 publications/communications, which include 14 patents & design copyright, 34 books, 100 book chapters, 380 original and review papers, etc with h index of 62 and >16,800 citation (Goggle scholar).

Professor, Energy Systems Modeling, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland; Professor, Energy Supply Chain, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco

Dr. Samir Kumar Khanal is a Professor of Biological Engineering at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Previously, he was a post-doctoral research associate and Research Assistant Professor at Iowa State University for 6 years. Dr. Khanal obtained Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a focus in Environmental Biotechnology from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong in 2002. He obtained in M.S. in environmental engineering from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in 1997. Dr. Khanal is a leading researcher, internationally in the field of anaerobic digestion, waste-to-resources and environmental biotechnology. Dr. Khanal, to date, has published over 90 refereed papers in high quality international journals. He also delivered over 90 keynote/invited presentation internationally. In addition, he also wrote and published a book entitled “Anaerobic Biotechnology for Bioenergy Production: Principles and Applications” (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). Dr. Khanal edited another book, as the Lead Editor, entitled “Bioenergy and Biofuel from Biowastes and Biomass” (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2010). Both books have become the best-sellers in the respective field. Recently he also published a bioenergy textbook entitled Bioenergy: Principles and Application (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016). He has supervised 11 Ph.D., 16 M.S., 17 undergraduate and 12 high school students, 13 post-docs and 14 visiting scholars. Dr. Khanal is also an editorial board member of the highly prestigious international journal, Bioresource Technology and Korean Journal of Environmental Engineering. He is also a recipient of CTAHR Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (2016), University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Khanal is a professional engineer (environmental engineering) in the state of Iowa.

Professor, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA; Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

Dr. Sindhu Raveendran is currently working as DST WOS-B Scientist at Microbial Processes and Technology Division, CSIR-NIIST, Trivandrum, India. She obtained PhD in Biotechnology from School of Biosciences, Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam, India. She had then worked as Post Doctoral Fellow at RGCB, Trivandrum, India from 2006 – 2008 in the area of Metagenomics. She later joined Centre for Biofuels as a Project Scientist and has contributed to the Centre’s activities in biomass conversion to biofuels and products, especially on pre-treatment and allied technologies. Her current research focus is on biofuels, biopolymers and microbial enzymes. She has about 125 publications in SCI Journals with an h- index of 36 (Google Scholar Citations). She is one among the top 2% scientists in the world for the year 2019 based on the study conducted by Stanford University. She is a recipient of several awards and fellowships including Elsevier BIORESTEC 2018 Impactful Research Award, Women Scientist Award for the year 2016 from BRSI, Top Reviewer Award 2017 (Bioresource Technology), Visiting fellowship from EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland – 2014, 2016, 2017; Marie Curie Fellow – University of Naples, Italy (2016) and University of Jaen, Spain (2016); International Training Fellowship from Department of International Programmes of National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan (2012); DBT Bio-CARe Fellowship, DST WOS-B Fellowship, Best Oral Presentation Award (SEEC 2018), BIORESTEC 2018 Best Paper Award, Elsevier Best Paper Award (NHBT 2015), Best Paper Award – Renewable Energy (Elsevier) – 2014, Best Paper Award (ICETB, 2009), and Fellow of the Society for Applied Biotechnology (FSAB). She is a reviewer of 102 SCI Journals in the field of bioprocesses and products. She is a recipient of Outstanding Reviewer Certificate from leading publishers like ACS, RCS, Wiley, Springer and Elsevier. She is a National Honorary Advisory Board Member of Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES, India).

DST-WOS-B Scientist, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum, India