Enzymes in the Valorization of Waste

Prof. Pradeep Verma completed his PhD from Sardar Patel University Gujarat, India in 2002. In the same year he was selected as UNESCO fellow and joined Czech Academy of Sciences Prague, Czech Republic. He later moved to Charles University, Prague to work as Post-Doctoral Fellow. In 2004 he joined as a visiting scientist at UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Halle, Germany. He was awarded a DFG fellowship which provided him another opportunity to work as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Gottingen University, Germany. He moved to India in 2007 where he joined Reliance Life Sciences, Mumbai and worked extensively on biobutanol production which attributed few patents to his name. Later he was awarded with JSPS Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme and joined Laboratoy of Biomass Conversion, Research Institute of Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto University, Japan. He is also a recipient of various prestigious awards such as Ron-Cockcroft award by Swedish society, UNESCO Fellow ASCR Prague. He has been awarded with Fellow of Mycological society of India (MSI-2020), Prof. P.C. Jain Memorial Award, Mycological society of India 2020 and Fellow of Biotech Research Society, India (2021).

Prof. Verma began his independent academic career in 2009 as a Reader and Founder Head at the Department of Microbiology at Assam University. In 2011 he moved to Department of Biotechnology at Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Bilaspur, and served as an Associate professor till 2013. He is currently working as Professor (former Head and Dean, School of Life Sciences) at Department of Microbiology, CURAJ. He is a member of various National & International societies/academies. He has completed two collaborated projects worth 150 million INR in the area of microbial diversity and bioenergy.

Prof. Verma is a Group leader of Bioprocess and Bioenergy laboratory at Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, CURAJ. His area of expertise involves Microbial Diversity, Bioremediation, Bioprocess Development, Lignocellulosic and Algal Biomass based Biorefinery. He also holds 12 International patents in the field of microwave assisted biomass pretreatment and bio-butanol production. He has more than 62 research articles in peer reviewed international journals and contributed to several book chapters (36 published; 10 in press) in different edited books. He has also edited 4 books in international publishers such as Springer, Taylor and Francis CRC Press and Elsevier. He is a Guest editor to several journals such as Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (Springer), Frontier in nanotechnology (Frontiers), and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (mdpi). He is also an editorial board member for the Journal Current Nanomedicine (Bentham Sciences). He is acting as reviewers for more than 40 journals in different publication houses such as Springer, Elsevier, RSC, ACS, Nature, Frontiers, mdpi etc.