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).

Prof. 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. 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, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, etc and also in several universities several in India. He has ~ 1300 publications/communications, which include 16 patents, 83 books, ~ 700 papers and book chapters, etc with h index of 93 and > 38,000 citations (Goggle scholar). Professor Pandey is Editor-in-chief of Bioresource Technology, Honorary Executive Advisor of Journal of Water Sustainability and Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Subject Editor of Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 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).

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).