Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Dr. Sunita Varjani is Scientific Officer at Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. She holds M.Sc. degree in Microbiology and Ph.D. in Biotechnology. Her major areas of research are Industrial and Environmental Microbiology/Biotechnology. Dr. Varjani has authored more than eighty publications, including research and review papers, books and book chapters. She has won several awards and honours, including Young Scientist Award - 2018 by International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, Certificate of Appreciation - 2017, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, Top Reviewer Award - 2017, Bioresource Technology Journal, Elsevier, Young Scientist Award at AFRO-ASIAN Congress on Microbes for Human and Environmental Health, New Delhi (2014) and Best Paper Awards in national and international conferences in 2008, 2012 and 2013. 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 journal, Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability and Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. She is recipient of visiting scientist fellowship from EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (2017).

Professor Ashok Pandey is currently Distinguished Scientist at CSIR-Indian Institute for Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India and Honorary Executive Director at the Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability- India; he was the former Deputy Director for CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology at Trivandrum, where he head the Centre for Biofuels and Biotechnology Division. Professor Pandey’s research interests are on bio-based economy for the production of fuels and chemicals. He has over 1000 publications and communications, which include 14 patents and design copyright, 34 books, 99 book chapters, and 391 original and review papers. Professor Pandey is the recipient of many national and international awards and fellowships, including Fellow of International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, National Academy of Science (India), Biotech Research Society, India, and the International Organization of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. He was Chairman of the International Society of Food, Agriculture and Environment, Finland (Food & Health) from 2003-2004. He is Founder President of the Biotech Research Society, India (www.brsi.in); International Coordinator and General Secretary of International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses, France (www.ifibiop.org), and Vice-President of the International Society for Energy, Environment & Sustainability (www.isees.org) and All India Biotech Association (www.aibaonline.com). Professor Pandey is Editor-in-chief of Bioresource Technology, Honorary Executive Advisors of Journal of Water Sustainability and Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability and editorial board member of several international and Indian journals. Prof. Pandey was also recently honoured as the Most Cited Author as per the Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2016.

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).

Dr. Samir Kumar Khanal is an Associate 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.

Dr. Sindhu Raveendran is currently working as WOS Scientist at Centre for Biofuels (CBF), Microbial Processes and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, 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 Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Trivandrum, India from 2006 – 2008 in the area of metagenomics. She later joined CBF as a project scientist. Her current research focus is on biofuels, biopolymers and microbial enzymes. She has 112 publications/communications. She is recipient of several awards and fellowships, including Woman Scientist Award from BRSI (2016), Best Reviewer Award (Industrial Crops and Products) Elsevier best poster award, Visiting fellowship from EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland; Marie Curie Fellow – University of Naples, Italy and University of Jaen, Spain, International Training Fellowship from Department of International Programmes of National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan, DBT Bio-CARe fellowship, Best Poster Award (ICETB, 2009), Elsevier Best Paper award (NHBT 2015) and Fellow of the Society for Applied Biotechnology (FSAB).