27^th Biotechnology Congress: Research & Innovations

Mukesh Verma is Chief of the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program's (EGRP) Methods and Technologies Branch (MTB), and oversees its research portfolio and initiatives that focus on methods to address epidemiologic data collection, study design and analysis, and to modify technological approaches developed in the context of other research endeavors for use as biomarkers and methods to understand cancer susceptibility. He is responsible for stimulating EGRP-funded research on epigenetic approaches in cancer epidemiology and has been instrumental in developing epigenetics research for NIH as a whole. Dr. Verma helped to develop a Request for Applications (RFA) on Environmental Influences on Epigenetics with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and represents the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), in NIH's Roadmap Initiative on EpigeneticsExternal Web Site Policy. He helped develop an RFA on Comparative Systems Genetics of Cancer with NCI's Division of Cancer Biology (DCB), and is known within the extramural research community as an EGRP Program Director for Program Announcements (PAs) on Small Grants for Cancer Epidemiology and Pilot Studies in Pancreatic Cancer. He also organized a workshop to explore developing a concept for a research initiative on mitochondrial DNA and cancer epidemiology. Dr. Verma was, and continues to be, a co-Program Director for initiatives in gene-environment interactions in cancer etiology, including the Breast and Prostate Cancer and Hormone-Related Variants Cohort Consortium (BPC3), which is a collaborative project to pool data and biospecimens from a group of large prospective cancer epidemiology cohorts. Dr. Verma joined EGRP as a Program Director in 2004. In 2005, he was appointed Acting Chief of EGRP's former Analytic Epidemiology Research Branch (AERB). When EGRP reorganized in 2007, he was appointed Acting Chief of MTB and of the Host Susceptibility Factors Branch (HSFB), for which he served as Acting Chief through 2008. Before joining EGRP, he was a Program Director in NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP), where he worked in the areas of biomarkers, early detection, risk assessment, and prevention. He also was Coordinator of DCP's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. He was on the faculty in the Biochemistry Department of Georgetown University before joining NIH.

Biomarkers, Epigenetics, Epidemiology Technologies, Proteomics, MicroRNA, Methylation, Mitochondria, Nanotechnology, Risk Assessment, Susceptibility Factors, Systems Genetics, Metabolomics

Brij. M. Gandhi is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Neo BioMed Services (www.neobiomed.com), a company which provides services and consultancy in health related areas. Dr. Gandhi is also Director of a Mumbai based Stem Cell Company, EmProCell Clinical Research Private Limited, involved in medical practice for regenerative medicine. His basic skills and experiences is in areas of Science Management; Research and Development; Policy and Strategic Planning; Management; Market Strategy; Technology Transfer; Sales and Management; Biodefence Strategies; Institutional Development / regulatory issues related to biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals, biosafety and biosecurity and healthcare areas including stem cell and regenerative medicine. Dr. Gandhi retired in 2006 as Adviser to the Government of India, Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, after serving for over 18 years in various capacities managing promotion and policy related issues in biotechnology related to international collaborations, medical biotechnology, infrastructure development, animals and aquaculture biotechnology. Prior to that Dr. Gandhi had been a Research Scientist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for about twenty years. Dr. Gandhi continues to serve as Advisor / Director to a number of institutions/pharma and biopharma industries including MNCs and has an experience of over 45 years of active service, as research scientist, science manager, adviser/consultant with over 150 publications. Dr. Gandhi had his Masters in Biochemistry from PAU and Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from the University of Bergan, Norway. He was trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London; National Institutes of Health, Maryland, USA; and University of Bergan, Norway.

Immunology and diagnostics for parasitic, bacterial and viral infections especially amoebic diseases; viral diseases including hepatitis viruses; liver diseases; stem cells and regenerative medicine; food and nutritional health issues.

.J. Reddy distinguished scientist and professor was born in India. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from India. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Quality in 1986 from Colorado State University. He worked as post-doctoral fellow from 1986-1990 at Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming (UW). He worked as a Research Scientist at UW Water Research Center from 1990-2000. In 2000 Dr. Reddy joined the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2005. From 2000-2010 he served as a Director for UW campus-wide Water Resources Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree Program. He also served as a Deputy Director for UW School of Energy Resources from 2008-2010. Professor Reddy is world-renowned scientist for his pioneering work on mineralization of anthropogenic flue gas CO2, filtration of toxic arsenic species from water, and geochemistry and beneficial uses of coalbed natural gas (CBNG) produced water. His high impact research programs have spread beyond the scientific community to be featured in a variety of high visibility news and print media from local to global levels. He has given several invited presentations at international conferences and workshops held in nineteen different countries. He holds 10 patents [4 US and 6 international: Australia (2), Japan (1), Mexico (1), New Zealand (1), and Philippines (1)]. Currently he is working on intrinsic properties of nanoparticles with engineers, economists, and medical scientists to develop sustainable solutions for emerging environmental issues such as climate change, global health crisis from arsenic contamination of groundwater, and optimum uses for produced water associated with different energy production processes.

Nanotechnology/environmental issues, Geochemistry of Water,Environmental Chemistry, Water Quality,

Sagar M. Goyal is Professor, Dept of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, USA.He received his Ph.D., Veterinary Virology; Minor Biochemistry, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar, India, July 1972. He received many awards including: Competitive Fellowship, Dept. of Atomic Energy, 1969-72, Who’s Who in South and Southwest, 1982, Who’s Who in Veterinary Science and Medicine, 1987, Internat. Dir. of Distinguished Leadership, 3rd. Ed., 1990,Pfizer Award for Research Excellence in Veterinary Medicine, 2005 and many more. He is serving as the editorial board members of more than 15 repute journals and published more than 215 research papers.

Veterinary Population Medicine

Dr. Ara Kanekanian gained his PhD from Reading University – UK in 1983. He has been in academia for over 25 years with main interest in protein chemistry and fermentation technology, including probiotics and factors affecting their growth and survival in dairy products. He has also been working in the food industry and undertook several consultancy and turnkey projects for food and dairy processing within Europe and the Middle East. He is a member of the publication committee of the International Journal of Dairy Technology and other scientific journals and has published several scientific and technical papers. His research activities include the development of hypoallergenic milk and dairy products, immune modulation and colostrum, micro- and nano-encapsulation of nutraceuticals. Currently, he has been participating in several European projects regarding bioactive compounds in food for their health benefits as antioxidants, antihypercholesterolemic, antihypertensive and anticarcinogenic agents. Research interest also covers the isolation and purification of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin and casinoglycomacropeptide from whey using ion-exchange for their use in baby milk formulation, improve certain functional properties of food systems and reduce dental erosion. Research collaboration has been successful which included partnership with other departments within the university such as Biomedical Sciences covering research on anti-inflammatory effects of bioactive components as well as wound healing using honey and other plant based ingredients. Outside the university, the collaboration included national and international institutions in research partnership with the School of Medicine, School Dentistry and the Department of Bioengineering Systems. He has been invited to many international conferences and presented his latest research findings. He has edited a book titled “Milk and Dairy Products as Functional Foods” commissioned by the Society of Dairy Technology – UK published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2014.

Probiotics & Prebiotics,Protein chemistry & enzymology, Product development; Membrane technology

Dr. Sandhya Gupta Currently working as a Principal Scientist at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, ICAR, New Delhi-India

Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation

Indira Shrivastava is in the School of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh, USA. She holds a PhD from University of Pune, India in Quantum and Computational Chemistry. She did post-doctoral work at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and at University of Oxford on modeling and simulations of proteins and ion channels. She continues to pursue research involving modeling and simulations of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals of international repute.

Functional dynamics of biomolecular complexes, Molecular modeling and simulation

Cheorl-Ho Kim has completed his Ph.D at the age of 28 years from The University of Tokyo and was positioned as a senior scientist from Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology. He is a professor of Molecular Glycobiology, SungKyunKwan University, Korea, leading organization of Korea, which is cooperated with the SamSung Group. He has published more than 320 papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member, executive editor and editor-in chief of the international journals. His work was contributed to the mechanisms of glycan-mediated Hepatis B viral oncogenesis and invasion, sialoglycan-mediated leukemic differentiation and vascular biology. Prof Cheorl-Ho Kim has been recognized as a pioneer expert in Molecular Hepatology, Glycobiology and Glycomics study, as evidenced and demonstrated by the following confirmations: The Lab has the authors of over 300 peer-reviewed articles published in international scientific journals. His distinguished discoveries recognized in the biomedical area are well documented in the Academic Society from the following outstanding findings: Hepatic B Viral hepatocarcinoma and PTEN (Cancer Research 2003), asialo-1 acid glycoprotein in liver cirrhosis and carcinoma (Hepatology Research, 2003), UDP-N-GlcNAc:β-D-Man-1,4-N-GlcNAc-T-III in hepatitis (Glycoconjugate J, 2003), plasma MMP-9/2 and α-fetoproteins in HBV chronic hepatitis (J. Gastroenterol. and Hepatology. 2004), HBV metastatic potential (FASEB J. 2004), Hepatic V and GnT-III-Apolipoprotein B (JBC. 2004), Disialo GD3 in VSMC responses (JBC. 2004), therapeutic hepatocarcinoma cells (FASEB J. 2004), Transglutaminase 2 signaling in leukemia (FEBS Lett. 2004), bisecting N-GlcNAc-T-III in HBV (J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2004), Monosialyl GM3 in leukemic differentiation (Glycobiology 2005), MMP-9 in In Vitro Fertilization (British J Obstetrics and Gynecology 2005), disialo GD3 Fas-induced T cells (Glycobiology 2006), GM3 in PTEN-mediated progression (Glycobiology 2006), ROS in sialic GD3-cell function (FASEB J 2006), AP-2a in GM3-PTEN (Glycobiology 2008), sialidase in leukemia (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2008), GM3-VEGFR-2 interaction (Glycobiology 2009), GD3 in breast cancer cells (Biological Chemistry 2009), pig CMAH and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Biochemical J 2010), pST6GalNAc IV for Neu5Acalpha2-3Galbeta1-3GalNAc (Glycoconjugate J 2011), GM3 in TGF-β1-induced EMT (Biochemical J. 2013), VEGFR-2 in neovascularization (J Molecular Medicine 2013), monosialyl GMs and TGF.receptor interaction (Int. J. of Biochem. Cell Biol. 2014), Sialyl Leuis A/X preference of HBx (Molecular Cancer 2014).

Mechanisms of glycan-mediated Hepatis B viral oncogenesis and invasion, sialoglycan-mediated leukemic differentiation and vascular biology

Mariapia Viola-Magni has Degree in Medicine and Surgery, PhD Scuola Normale Superiore, professor of General Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of Perugia University from 1975. Delegate of International affairs, President of TUCEP Consortium and actually of ONLUS Foundation for research “Enrico Puccinelli”. Authors of more than 300 publication most on International Journal. Scientific fields of interest are:cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro; non premitotic DNA synthesis; tumor cell proliferation and oncogene expression; gene expression in hepatocytes during neonatal maturation and liver regeneration; presence of a phospholipidic fraction in hepatocyte chromatin and its metabolism presence of DNA in blood and in biological fluids.

Cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro, non premitotic DNA synthesis, tumor cell proliferation and oncogene expression, gene expression in hepatocytes during neonatal maturation and liver regeneration, presence of a phospholipidic fraction in hepatocyte chromatin and its metabolism presence of DNA in blood and in biological fluids.

Alexander A. Kamnev is a Leading Scientist at the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences (Saratov, Russia). He graduated from Saratov State University with a MSc degree in chemistry (1980); received his Cand. Sci. (PhD equivalent; 1992) and DSc (2002) in physical chemistry from the same University. His scientific background included physical chemistry and electrochemistry of transition metal hydroxides. Since mid-90s, his research has been focused on the application of spectroscopic techniques in studying biomolecules, biocomplexes, supramolecular structures, microbial cells; physicochemical aspects of plant-microbe interactions, microbial metabolic responses to stresses and external agents; spectroscopic detection of biospecific interactions using biofunctionalized noble-metal plasmonic nanoparticles; bioanalytical applications of vibrational (FTIR, Raman) and Mössbauer (nuclear gamma-resonance) spectroscopies. Professor Kamnev has been the leader or coordinator of a number of international research projects supported by various grants. He is the main author of over a hundred papers in peer-refereed international journals and several invited review chapters in monographs. Professor Kamnev has been an invited/plenary lecturer and a member of Organizing Committees or Advisory Boards of a number of large international scientific meetings. He has been regularly involved in refereeing international research proposals and manuscripts for many high-rank scientific journals published by Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, American Chemical Society, etc., and is an Editorial/Advisory Board member of several international scientific journals.

Application of spectroscopic techniques in studying biomolecules, biocomplexes, supramolecular structures, microbial cells; physicochemical aspects of plant-microbe interactions, microbial metabolic responses to stresses and external agents; spectroscopic detection of biospecific interactions using biofunctionalized noble-metal plasmonic nanoparticles; bioanalytical applications of vibrational (FTIR, Raman) and Mössbauer (nuclear gamma-resonance) spectroscopies

Vakhtang Barbakadze has completed his Ph.D and D.Sci. at the ages of 33 and 54 years from Zelinsky Instiute of Organic Chemistry, Moscow, Russia and Durmishidze Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Tbilisi, Georgia, respectively. 2006 up to date he is the head of laboratory of plant biopolymers at the Tbilisi State Medical University Institute of Pharmacochemistry. 1996 and 2002 he has been a visiting scientist at Utrecht University (faculty of pharmacy), The Netherlands, by University Scholarship and The Netherlands organization for scientific research (NWO) Scholarship Scientific Program, respectively. He has published more than 64 papers in reputed journals.

Plant biopolymers, Organic Chemistry

Tiina Leiviskä received her M.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 2001 and a D. Sc. (Tech.) degree in Water Engineering in 2010, both from the University of Oulu, Finland. Currently, she is working as a researcher in Chemical Process Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oulu. Her research interests include biological wastewater treatment, coagulation-flocculation, ion exchange, adsorption, and development of water treatment chemicals. She is currently serving as an editorial board member of the Journal of Bioremediation and Biodegradation.

Water treatment chemicals, coagulation-flocculation in water and wastewater treatment, Colloid chemistry and surface charge measurements.

Shiv Kant Shukla has done Ph.D in Biotechnology and has diversified experience in the area of commercial biotechnology. He had earlier worked as in charge of commercial plant tissue culture unit and currently working in Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), New Delhi a company promoted by DBT, Govt of India. As the Assistant General Manager BCIL, he is managing projects of national importance such as National Certification System for Tissue Culture Plants (NCS-TCP), consultancy services for setting up of biotech park/incubator, organization of entrepreneurship development programmes in biotechnology etc.

Biotechnology and its allied areas

Dr. Vijai Kumar Gupta, is Lead Researcher at Department of Biochemistry, NUI Galway, Ireland. His areas of expertise are: Fungal Biology & Biotechnology, Bio-fuels & Bioenergy Research, Microbial biodiversity, Enzyme Technology, Plant-Microbial Interactions and Microbial Biotechnology. He is the active Member of several societies, academies and commission and has received various awards including Young Scientist Award, and Outstanding Higher Education Leader Award. He has edited many books for Wiley; CRC Press,; Springer; Elsevier Press; Nova Science Publisher; LAP Lambert; and CABI. Along with book editorship, he is serving as the Editor of various journals including Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Microbiology, Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, BMC Microbiology, and having 45 and 31 book chapters publications in his hands. His work with Fusarium, Colletotrichum, Aspergillus. Penicillium, and Trichoderma has been complemented by contributions to biotechnological development, molecular diversity, disease diagnostic, plant pathology, fungal-plant interaction, biofuel & bioenergy and industrial applications.

Fungal Biology & Biotechnology, Bio-fuels & Bioenergy Research, Microbial biodiversity, Enzyme Technology, Plant-Microbial Interactions and Microbial Biotechnology.

He received B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D degrees in Microbiology from Institute of science, Aurangabad in 1981, 1983 1nd 2001 respectively. Since 1983, He is working as associate Professor at H.P.T College, Nashik. My Research area includes Bio-remediation, Bio-degradation, Siderophores and secondary metabolites. I have 21 publications - 15 International and 6 National. I am recipient of Best Teacher Award - Gokhale Education Society, Best Research Paper Presentation - Osmania University in 2000(Hyderabad) and Best Research Paper Presentation - Ferguson College in 2014 (Pune). He is a member of Editorial board for the International journal entitled “Journal of Cancer and Therapy”.

Bio-remediation, Bio-degradation, Siderophores and secondary metabolites

She is the Assistant Professor in Biotechnology at Khalsa College, Patiala.She is having 9 years of teaching experience in the field of Biotechnology.

Genetic Engineering. rDNA technology

Venkata Dasu Veeranki is a Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. He completed his Ph. D. (Biochemical Engineering), Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India, 2000. He served as Research Trainee, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Deajon, South Korea (1999-2000), Postdoctoral Researcher, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB, Deajon, South Korea (2000), Postdoctoral Researcher, Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejon, South Korea (2000-2001), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Researcher, National Food Research Institute (NFRI), Tsukuba, Japan (2000-2004) and Postdoctoral Researcher, National Food Research Institute (NFRI), Tsukuba, Japan (2004). He achieved many awards and fellowships including Talented Industrial Biotechnologist Award for 2012 by Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy, India [The award consists of a citation and Gold medal] , JSPS (Japan Society for the promotion of Science) Fellowship (Government of Japan) to carry out postdoctoral research at National Food Research Institute (NFRI) Tsukuba, Japan, 2001, Brain Korea 21 (BK 21) Postdoctoral Fellowship (Government of Korea) at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea, 2000, Postdoctoral Fellowship (Government of Korea) at Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Republic of Korea, 1999, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India Fellowship for Postgraduate Industrial Training in Biotechnology, 1995. He supervised 10 Ph.D. Scholars and 5 M. Tech scholars. He submitted 9 sequences at NCBI, more than 50 publications and one patent.

Bioprocess development (upstream to downstream), Metabolic Engineering, Bioenergy

Suman Kapur is the Dean, International Programmes and Collaboration Division (University wide), Senior Professor, Biological Sciences Department ,Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, India. She completed her Ph.D from AIIMS, New Delhi, 1986. She is the Editor and reviewer for peer-reviewed international & National Journals like: Editorial board member for Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS), Member Board of Editors, Internet Journal of forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Reviewer for International journals such as Eye (Nature Publications), BiOMARKERS (Taylor & Francis), USA and National journals such as IJBB, IJCB, Cell and Tissue Research, etc . She has published more than 80 paper in various repute journals and given more than 150 invited talks. She is the life time member of Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (ACBI), Indian Immunology Society (IIS), Indian Academy of Neuro Sciences (IANS), Society of Biological Chemists (SBC), Indian Psychiatry Society (IPS), Research Society for Studies in Diabetes in India (RSSDI) and Society for DNA fingerprinting. Research Society for Alcoholism (RSA), International Society for Biomedical Research in Alcoholism (ISBRA), European Society for Biomedical Research in Alcoholism (ESBRA), Society for Neuroscience (SFN) and Asian Society for Biomedical Research in Alcoholism (ASBRA). She has applied for 2 patents i.e. Anti diabetic herbal extract from Chlorophytum borivilianum, Patent application No. 961/DEL/2008 and An automatic apparatus, kit and a method for rapid detection of urinary pathogens and susceptibility thereof to antimicrobial agents in a biological sample, Patent application No. 2783/DEL/2013.

Genetic markers for vulnerability to chronic human diseases, Screening strategies for low-cost settings, Medical devices for field deployment in low resource settings, Prevention of diseases through herbal/natural products

Evans Clifton Coutinho is the Professor and Head - Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Bombay College of Pharmacy, India.He completed his Ph. D. (Tech.) Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UDCT (ICT) in the year 1989.He has been teaching organic chemistry and allied subjects to the undergraduate and post-graduate students at the Bombay College of Pharmacy since 1986.He is a renowned scientist and teacher in pharmacy education and has been teaching at Bombay College of Pharmacy for more than two decades and as visiting faculty at several well known organizations. His interest lies in the area of NMR of peptides, strategic design of anti infective agents using computer assisted tools for drug design.He heads Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the molecular modeling and drug design group at the Bombay College of Pharmacy. More than 30 graduates have completed M. Pharm. and 13 have completed Ph. D. (Tech.) under his guidance and supervision. He has published extensively with more than 140 publications in peer reviewed high impact factor journals.

NMR of peptides, strategic design of anti infective agents using computer assisted tools for drug design

Smita C. Pawar, Assistant Professor, former Head, Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, has more than nine years of experience in teaching, research and University administration. She is the recipient of CSIR/NET/UGC-JRF (2003) fellowship from Government of India. She worked ina reputed national research ICMR Institute “National Institute of Nutrition” as Junior Research Fellow (2003-2004). She was awarded the DST-ITS grant to present a research article in an international conference “BDC 2010”- at Sydney, Australia. She has been awarded the BOYSCAST FELLOWSHIP by DST, Government of India for the year 2011-2012. She has completed her post-doctoral training at University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE USA and John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. She has published more than 14 research articles in reputed international journals and is currently a research supervisor guiding students for PhD and has two ongoing major research grants funded by UGC and DBT.

Cancer Genetics , Epigenetics , Angiogenesis and drug designing using bioinformatic tools

Mugasimangalam C Raja, holds a Masters & Ph.D in Biotechnology from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu. His research career post-Ph.D, involved developing techniques for DNA sequencing (Weizmann Institute, Israel) and mutating specificity of restriction enzymes (Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San Diego, USA). He worked as a Human Genome Project Scientist at the US Government's Argonne National Lab Argonne II, USA. He has developed two novel methods for constructing cDNA microarrays during his stint at QBI Enterprises Ltd., Israel. His accomplishments include several peer reviewed research articles, inventions reports, and several US patents.

AgriGenomics, Big data analysis pipelines and medical annotation of SNPs

Lecturer (Senior Scale) at the Biological Science Group, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India (Core Group faculty at Center for Biotechnology- a multidisciplinary center)

Biochemical Engineering, Cell & Tissue Culture Technology, Nano-Biotechnology, Biomedical Instrumentation, Cell Biology, Biophysics, and General Biology

Bina Pani Das completed her Ph. D from Delhi University. She is a Medical Entomologist worked with premier organization National Centre for Disease Control (1985-2007) and with Jamia Millia Islamia University till 2012. She has published 4 books and over 20 papers in National & International Journals, her last book “Mosquito Vectors of Japanese Encephalitis Virus from Northern India” by Springer in 2012. She is the inventor of a patent entitled “Microbial Control Agent for Mosquito Vectors of Human Diseases” granted by six countries including USA, Australia.

Medical Entomology

Assistant Professor Department of Biotechnology GITAM University India

Biosorption, Mass Transfer studies on packed and fluidized bed.

Saheem Ahmad has completed his Ph.D. from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India and postdoctoral studies from Loyola University of Medical Center, Loyola University of Chicago, IL, USA. He is the leading researcher in the field of glycation biology and metabolic disorders. Dr. Ahmad is an active investigator working in an International project in collaboration with the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine Novosibirsk, Russia. He has published more than 33 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of reputed journals like Journal of Immune Research, Journal of Glycomics and Lipidomics.

Glycomics and Lipidomics, Immunology

Prakash Babu is Professor and Head, Department of Biotechnology, University of Hyderabad. He completed his Ph.D from University of Hyderabad and joined Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati as Lecturer. Later he returned to University of Hyderabad and was subsequently elevated to higher positions. He worked for 2 years in Japan as Japan Science and Technology Fellow, and at University of London for his post-doctoral research. He established lab and research work in neurodegenerative diseases and is working in this area for the last two decades. His lab research focuses on cerebral malaria and Stroke in animal models to understand the mechanism of cell death. Apart from this he is also working on regeneration using autologous stem cells in stroke models. Further, His lab is also working on glioma in both human and animal models to understand various cell signaling pathways leading to its progression. From his lab 10 Ph.Ds are awarded and 10 more students are currently working. His lab group has published more than 50 publications in peer reviewed international journals and 4 book chapters. He has been awarded Fellow, National Academy of Biological Sciences, Chennai, Fellow, A.P. Akademy of Sciences, BOYSCAST Fellow, DST-DAAD Fellow, STA- Japan Fellow, Fellow, Indian Academy of Neurosciences. He is recipient of B.P. Pande memorial award (ISP), Tulsibai Somani Educational trust award (IAN). He has held various positions like Secretary, SNCI, Secretary, Asian Pacific Society for Neurochemistry (APSN), Vice-President, Indian Academy of Neurosciences, Vice President, Indian Society for Parasitology, Vice-President, Society for Neurochemistry, India. Currently serving as Council member, APSN and Secretary SNCI.

Therapeutic potential of stem cells in stroke in rat model Glioblastoma multiforme (Brain Tumors) Cerebral Malaria in mice model

P B Kirti completed his PhD from the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India in 1979 and joined the Indian Agricultural Research (ICAR) and worked as a Scientist in various capacities at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, particularly at the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology till December 1998. In 1999, he has joined the University of Hyderabad as a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and headed it between 2004-2007. he is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India, and a Fellow of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences, Elected Fellow-Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology Association of India, Visiting FAO Scientist at the Ohio State Biotechnology Center-Columbus, USA and a Visiting Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His primary research interests include plant genetic manipulation.

Plant genetic manipulation

Utpal Bhadra obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Advanced Cytogenetics from University of Calcutta, India. He received the “Young scientist Award” in 1991 and also received “Nehru Centenary British Fellowship” to continue his doctoral work in UK. He joined as a postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. After two years Post doc, he got independent faculty position in University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA during 1995-2000. His lab in Missouri was the pioneer contributor for Gene silencing and RNA interference technology in animals and is the first group to identify RNAi and Gene silencing in Animals. He contributed several milestone findings in the field of Gene silencing and RNA interference. He joined in CCMB as a senior Scientist in 2002 and promoted as a Group Leader within a year. He recently selected as “International Fellow” of “Wellcome Trust organization from UK. He was also selected as a top Young investigator from “Human Frontier Science Program” (funded by G8 countries). He was selected as a fellow for UNESCO and Australian Expert Group of Industrial Study (AEGIS) and recently selected as a Fellow for National Academy of Science, (FNASc) India. His paper ranked in Top Ten papers in ‘Science’ journal in three consecutive years and he selected as Excellent Investigator by the French Academy of Science. He was awarded Ranbaxy Research Award for Medical Science in the year 2011. He also got Life time Achievement Gold Medal Award” by Asso. Biotech. & Phar. (ABAP) (2013) and Dr Radha Krishnan Gold Medal Award – For Outstanding Individual Achievement in Education & Research by GEPRA (2013).

(1) To understand the complete mechanism of gene silencing and its influence on various important biochemical pathways. (2) How we can easily control life threatening animal and plant viruses using gene silencing. (3) A possible interrelationship between RNA, gene silencing, chromatin remodeling and epigenetic regulation.

Veena Agrawal, Progessor in Department of Botany, University of Delhi, India. She completed her Ph.D. from Kurukshetra University, 2982. She has Teaching Experience of 30 years at P.G. level. Apart from of her research career she has assigned with various administrative issue including: Nominated Member of various administrative committees constituted by the University Grants Commission,New Delhi w.e.f. May, 2009 to till date, Nominated Member of Expert panel of selection committee by the Department of Higher Education Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, New Delhifor selection of the candidates for foreign scholarships w.e.f. 2008 to till date, Member of Expert panel of U.G.C., U.P.S.C (New Delhi), Central/State Universities, Council of Forest Research, Dehradun, Member Committee of Courses and Studies in Botany, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and many more.She has guided 19 Ph.D and 17 M.Phil candiddates with more than 80 publications.

Plant tissue culture and biotechnology (Micropropagation and genetic transformation), evaluation, isolation and metabolic engineering of naturally occurring anticancerous, larvicidal bioactive compounds from medicinal plants, development of sex-linked molecular markers for dioecious crops, molecular basis of metal stress- induced phytotoxicity and its amelioration.

After obtaining his Post-graduate degree in Biotechnology from University of Allahabad, Dr. Vaibhav Vindal joined Computational and Functional Genomics Group for his PhD at Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad. Under the supervision of Dr. Ranjan A., he studied transcriptional regulators from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He analyzed mycobacterial genomes to explore the transcriptional regulators and regulons belonging to GntR protein family. Comparative genomic approaches were employed to understand attributes like orthologs, regulatory region, etc. across mycobacterial genomes. After receiving Ph.D., Dr. Vaibhav Vindal joined Department of Biotechnology, University of Hyderabad in Dec 2008 as Assistant Professor. His present research is focused towards computational and experimental analyses of genes encoded by pathogen genomes, such as mycobacteria, clostridium, influenza virus, to understand the molecular interaction partners. In order to consolidate all computational findings, web databases and tools were developed (http://bif.uohyd.ernet.in/mycorrdb). He has also compiled information based on natural source of drug molecules and analyzed inhibitors for their higher inhibition activity.

Transcriptional regulation studies in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Drug design, analysis of protein sequence, structure and evolution. Genome analysis, data mining, development of computational tools and web resources.

Nidhee Chaudhary is working as Professor at Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India. She has completed his PhD from CCS University, Meerut and MPhil from IIT Roorkee, India. She has been in academia for over 17 years at various positions. She has supervised several PhD (theses), MPhil, MSc, MTech and BTech dissertations. She has many international and national publications in journals and books of repute. Her main research interest is in industrially and therapeutically important enzymes along with bioprocessing. Recently, she has been granted with Finn Wold Travel Award by The Protein Society, USA. She has been member of various scientific groups like: The Protein Society, USA, American Society of Microbiology, USA, OMICS group, USA, Biotech Research Society (BRSI), India, Global Science and Technology Forum (GSTF), Singapore, Biotech Society of India (BSI), World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology (WASET), USA, Asian Federation of Biotechnology (AFOB). She has served as reviewer for several reputed Journals like; Journal of Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry, Journal of Preparative Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, Journal of Biotechnology, published by Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Wiley-Blackwell and other established groups.

Industrially and therapeutically important enzymes along with bioprocessing

Shashi Singh, Chief Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Hyderabad, India. India. She completed her Ph.D. in Zoology (Cell Biology) 1988. She served as Junior Research Officer (Aug1987-Aug1988)- National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Lecturer (Oct 1988-Nov1988) at Dept Bio Sci. and Biotech, Univ Roorki, India. She is the Life Member of Society of Cell Biology, Life Member of Society of Reproductive Biology and Comparative Endocrinology, Ordinary member of Society of Biochemist of India and Life member of Electron Microscope Society of India. She has published 61 research papers, 7 book chapters and reviewed 3 books.

Stem Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering Basic biology of Adult multipotent stem cells from different sources and iPS eneration, Differentiation of the multipotent cells into various lineages using cues from nanomaterials, modified surfaces, growth factors or natural compounds.

Mrutyunjay Suar is the founder School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India and CEO, KIIT Technology Business Incubator (Supported by DST, Govt. of India). He completed his Ph.D. from University of Delhi, 2003. He has published more than 50 research paper in various repute journals and has 2 patents.

Salmonella Typhimurium (STm) and Salmonella Enteritidis (SEn) infection biology in Streptomycin pre-treated mouse model,identification of new virulence factors of SEn through comparative genome wide screening approach, development of recombinant and safe Salmonella derived mucosal vaccine candidates

Under Graduate education from Presidency College (Calcutta University), Master of Science in Physics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, PhD. in Biophysics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Worked as an Assistant Professor & Associate Professor at the Department of Biophysics, University of Delhi South Campus, and as a Professor at the University of Hyderabad. Currently associated with the Department of Biophysics, University of Delhi South Campus. Worked as a Visiting Scientist at (i) North Western University Medical School, Chicago, (ii) University of Chicago Medical School, (iii) Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany, (iv) Technical University of Dresden, Germany, (v) Institute of Molecular Physiology & Genetics, Bratislava, Slovakia. Delivered invited talks all over USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Slovakia.

(i) Biophysics and Electro-physiology of Ion Channels and their relevance to various bio-medical problems, especially neuro-degenerative diseases. (ii) Neuro-biophysics of learning & memory (Cognitive Science), Neuro-psychology & Behavior. (iii) Noise & Fluctuations in Biological Systems. (iv) Theoretical, Mathematical & Computational Biology.

Dr. Sunit K. Singh is Associate Professor (Molecular Immunology) and head of the Molecular Biology Unit at Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. Dr. Sunit Singh has completed his Ph.D degree from University of Wuerzburg, Germany and his postdoctoral trainings from Dept of Internal medicine, Yale University, USA and Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, USA. Prior to moving to IMS, BHU; He has also served as visiting faculty at Dept. of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, (USA), Dept. of Arbovirology, Institute of Parasitology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Chonbuk National University, South Korea and Department of Immunology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Singh is also associated with Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi as Honorary Faculty member. Dr. Singh led a research group in the area of neurovirology and inflammation biology as a scientist at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India. This award is being given to Dr. Sunit K. Singh for his excellent work as evident from his publications in peer reviewed international journals in the areas of Japanese Encephalitis, Neuro-AIDS and Chikungunya Virus infections. In addition, Dr. Singh has also published many books in various thrust areas of Viral Infections such as Neuroviral Infections and Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers from the prestigious publishers like Taylor & Francis, USA and Wiley Blackwell, USA. Dr. Singh is associated with several International journals of repute as Associate editor and Editorial Board Member.

Molecular Biology,Internal Medicine,Neurology

A. Thirugnanam completed his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India and currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela. Prior to joining NIT Rourkela, he was working for Bharat Forge Limited, Pune, India for 2 years. He is one of the recipients of Elsevier Biomaterials Student travel award in 2008. He is a life member of Society for Biomaterials and Artificial Organs India (SBAOI).

Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Rehabilitative engineering, Nanotechnology, Materials processing and characterization

Suman Kundu is associate professor, University of Delhi South Campus, india.He completed his Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University, 1999 (Biophysics, Biochemistry). He was the Postdoctoral Fellow April 2000 to Sept 2004, Iowa State University, USA with field of study Protein Biochemistry and Biophysics. Then served as a research associate at Pioneer HiBred, Dupont, USA from Oct 2004 to Jan 2006.Professional Diploma: Master in Light Scattering, 2005, from Universitas Lucis Spargentis (Light Scattering University) sponsored by Wyatt Technology Corporation, Santa Barbara, California, USA. He achieved many honours including Citation in Marquis Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare 2011-2012 (8th Edition), Indo-US Research Fellowship, 2010, from Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and DST, Government of India, DST (Government of India) Travel Award for Attending International Conference Abroad, 2008. He published more than 50 research papers, 47 review papers, 2 book chapters and 1 patent.

• Structure-Function Relationship in Hemoglobins; Hemoglobinopathies and Artificial Blood Substitutes. • Rational Drug Design against cardiovascular diseases and cancer • Proteomics related to C. elegans and latex of medicinal plants. • Protein Engineering.

Subha Narayan Rath, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India. He completed his Ph. D.(2009): National University of Singapore, Singapore, M.M.S.T. (2005): Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He did his postdoc from Aug 2009-Jan 2013: Post-Dept. of Plastic and hand surgery,University Hospital of Erlangen, Germany.His academic achievents include: DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) post-doctoral fellowship (2008-Jan, 2013), NUS, Singapore research scholarship (2005-2009),Silver medal in IIT, Kharagpur, Project work in RIKEN brain science institute, Japan related to Wisconsin card sorting test in animals. He has published more than 20 research publications in various repute journals.

Tissue engineering, Characterization and application of novel biomaterials, Stem cell research, In vitro and in vivo testing of biomaterials.

Dr. Mohammed Kuddus completed his PhD in Biotechnology and joined Integral University, India in 2007. At present, he is working as an Associate Professor at University of Hail, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Kuddus’s main research area includes microbial enzymes and protein biotechnology. He has published >30 research articles in the national/international journals along with 5 book chapters; and presented >35 abstracts in the national and international conference/symposia. He is serving as an Editorial Board Member and Reviewer of various international journals. He has been awarded Young Scientist Projects from International Foundation for Science, Sweden, and Department of Science and Technology, India.

microbial enzymes and protein biotechnology