Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Dr. Amit Kumar Rai is presently working as Scientist - C at Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Regional Centre, Sikkim. He has completed his doctorate from CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore on application of lactic acid fermentation for recovery nutraceuticals from fish and animal processing by-products. As an independent researcher, Dr. Amit has contributed in the area of Food Biotechnology for the production of nutraceuticals and functional foods rich in bioactive peptides and isoflavones using microorganisms associated with traditional fermented foods of North East India. To his credit, he has totally 45 publications including 31 publications in SCI Journals and 12 chapters in the book published by various International publishers. His performance as a researcher has resulted in the bestowment of the Young Scientist Award 2016 from Association of Food Scientist and Technologists (India), Young Scientist Award 2015 by Association of Microbiologist of India, AU-CBT Excellence Award 2009 by the Biotech Research Society of India, Award for excellence in Food Biotechnology 2016 from Society of Applied Biotechnology and several best presentation award at National and International conferences. Dr. Amit Kumar Rai is presently working as Scientist - C at Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Regional Centre, Sikkim. He has completed his doctorate from CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore on application of lactic acid fermentation for recovery nutraceuticals from fish and animal processing by-products. As an independent researcher, Dr. Amit has contributed in the area of Food Biotechnology for the production of nutraceuticals and functional foods rich in bioactive peptides and isoflavones using microorganisms associated with traditional fermented foods of North East India. To his credit, he has totally 45 publications including 31 publications in SCI Journals and 12 chapters in the book published by various International publishers. His performance as a researcher has resulted in the bestowment of the Young Scientist Award 2016 from Association of Food Scientist and Technologists (India), Young Scientist Award 2015 by Association of Microbiologist of India, AU-CBT Excellence Award 2009 by the Biotech Research Society of India, Award for excellence in Food Biotechnology 2016 from Society of Applied Biotechnology and several best presentation award at National and International conferences. Dr. Sudhir P. Singh obtained his Ph.D. in the year 2011 from University of Lucknow, India. Subsequently, he worked as research associate and then as Project Scientist at National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, India. He joined Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, India in 2015, as Scientist-C. He has been working in the area of molecular biology, and synthetic biology. In the area of plant molecular biology his some of the significant contribution are: development stringently regulated expression systems for inducing male sterility and male sterility-fertility restoration system in plants, investigation of tissue and cell-type specific distribution pattern of mineral nutrients in wheat grains and its possible impacts on bioavailability, the first transcriptome analysis and molecular insights into seed development biology in the fruit crops, Custard apple and Litchi, and secondary metabolite pathways in Rose-scented geranium, development of approaches based on Rootstock-scion or modified viral genome based long distance signalling as possible strategies for inducing trait modification such as seedlessness. His current research focus is towards development of synthetic biocatalysts for biotransformation of agro-industrial by-products and residues into value added biomolecules. In the area of biosynthetic technology his some of the significant contribution are: development of novel approaches for transformation of agro-industrial residues and bioresources into functional and prebiotic biomolecules, development of a novel strategy for the improvement of operational stability of D-psiose 3-epimerase enzyme. He has been interested in employing the basic knowledge for translational research. He has published 33 research papers in peer reviewed journals, 4 review articles/book chapters, and 4 patents to his credit. Prof. Ashok Pandey is currently Executive Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability-India, Lucknow. His major research and technological development interests are industrial and environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels and chemicals, waste to wealth and energy, etc.

Prof. Christian Larroche is Director of Polytech Clermont-Ferrand, a graduate school of engineering of University Clermont-Auvergne, France. He is also member of the research laboratory Institut Pascal and of the laboratory of excellence ImobS3 at the same university. He has strong research skills and expertise in the area of applied microbiology and biochemical engineering. He is author of 220 documents, including 114 articles, three patents, 15 book chapters and 24 co-editions of books or journal special issues. He is member of French Society for Process Engineering (SFGP), French Society of Biotechnology and European Federation of Chemical Engineering. He is administrator of IBA-IFIBiop and editor of Bioresource Technology. Professor Carlos Ricardo Soccol is the research group leader of DEBB (Department of Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology) at the Federal University of Parana, Brazil, with twenty years of experience in biotechnological research and development of bioprocesses with industrial application. He is graduated in Chemical Engineering (UFPR, 1979), Master in Food Technology (UFPR, 1986) and Ph.D. in Genie Enzymatique, Microbiologie et Bioconversion (Universite de Technologie de Compiegne,- France, 1992). Postdoctor at Institut ORSTOM/IRD (Montpellier, 1994 and 1997) and at the Universite de Provence et de la Mediterranee (Marseille, 2000). He is HDR Professor at Ecole d'Ingenieurs Superiure of Luminy, Marseille-France. He has experience in the areas of Science and Food Technology, with emphasis on Agro-industrial and Agroalimentary Biotechnology, acting in the following areas: bioprocess engineering and solid state fermentation, submerged fermentation, bioseparations, industrial bioprocesses, enzyme technology, tissue culture, bio-industrial projects and bioproduction. He is currently Coordinator of Master BIODEV-UNESCO, Associate Editor of five international journals and Editor in Chief of Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology Journal. Professor Soccol received several national and international awards which include Science & Technology award of the Govt. of Parana (1996), Scopus/Elsevier award (2009), Dr. Honoris Causa, University Blaise Pascal-France (2010), Outstanding Scientist - 5th International Conference on Industrial Bioprocesses, Taipei, Taiwan (2012), Elected Titular Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2014). He is a technical and scientific consultant of several companies, agencies and scientific journals in Brazil and abroad. He has supervised and formed 96 Master Science students, 48 PhD students and 14 Post-Doctorate Students. He has 995 publications/communications which include 17 books, 107 book chapters, 270 original research papers, 557 research communications in international and national conferences and has registered 44 patents. His research articles until the moment were cited (Scopus DataBase) 5600 Times with Index h=36.