Current Biotechnology

Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto is a molecular biologist currently developing his research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). He is Editor-in-Chief of Current Biotechnology and the book series Grand Challenges in Biology and Biotechnology (Springer). He also serves as Associate Editor, Guest Editor and member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals in the field of Life Sciences and Biotechnology. In his editorial books and special issues, some of the most distinguished team leaders in the field have published their work, ideas and findings, including Nobel Laureates and several of the highly cited scientists according to the ISI Institute.

Professor Yasuhisa Asano earned his Ph.D. degree (1982) in Applied Microbiology from Kyoto University, Japan. Prof. Asano currently serves as the Director in the Biotechnology Research Center of Toyama Prefectural University. His current research is broadly in the fields of Applied Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Enzymology, and Organic Chemistry. He has also been a pioneer in the development of microscale assays for amino acids and their analogs, and in particular, his rapid and microscale detection of phenylketonuria in newborns is now commonly used in Japan. Prof. Asano has over 220 publications and has 90 patents.

Professor Francis J. Castellino obtained his Ph.D. degree (1968) in Biochemistry from University of Iowa, USA. He currently holds the following positions: (1) Kleiderer/Pezold Professor of Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame (1983-present); (2) Director, WM Keck Center for Transgene Research, University of Notre Dame (1996-present); and (3) Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine (2006-present). The research interests of Prof. Castellino’s laboratory involve the structure, function and activation of proteins that participate in blood coagulation and blood clot dissolution. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 450 articles in various journals, having a very noteworthy number of total citations, i.e. around 13,690.

Professor Thomas Ming Swi Chang, O.C., M.D., C.M., Ph.D., FRCP(C), FRS(C), has been called the “Father of Artificial Cells”. As a student of B.Sc. honours at McGill University, he invented and prepared the first artificial cell (Chang, Hon B.Sc. research report, 1957). He continued this research in medical school and then obtained his Ph.D. (on artificial cells including blood substitutes) from the Departments of Chemistry & Physiology, McGill University. Since 1979, he is Director of Artificial Cells and Organs Research Centre at McGill University. He has now published more than 546 full papers and 29 books, and has since developed artificial cell into a very large area around the world.

Dr. Charles Wyman leads advancement of cellulosic biomass conversion to sugars and other precursors for biological or catalytical conversion to fuels and chemicals. He is a Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering and a Distinguished Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. His prior positions include Queneau Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College and Director of the Biotechnology Center as well as previous positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Wyman is a founder of Vertimass to commercialize simple ethanol conversion to fungible fuels and was cofounder of Mascoma Corporation. He is a AIChE and AAAS Fellow.

F. C. Thomas Allnutt, PhD is the CEO/CSO of BrioBiotech LLC, a small business focused on improved health and nutrition for aquacultured and terrestrial animals. He has experience in industrial research and commercialization of the products produced through his research. He has expertise in algal and microbial biotechnology with broad knowledge of related areas. He is an inventor on more than 17 patents issued or pending and published more than 45 peer reviewed papers. His previous positions were as Sr. VP R&D at Phycal Inc., Program Director for the National Science Foundation’s SBIR/STTR Program Biotechnology Group, Research Director at Martek Biosciences, and VP R&D at Advanced BioNutrition.

Dr. Ralf Anken obtained his Ph.D. degree (1995) in Zoology (Neurobiology) from University of Hohenheim, Germany. In Mar 2008, he joined as Scientific Employee at German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Division Biomedical Research, Cologne, Germany, and since 2010, he is Head of the Division. He has authored/co-authored more than 75 articles in various journals, having total citations of over 670. Dr. Anken’s academic and professional honors include the following: (1) Promotion to “ausserplanmaessiger Professor” (2008), and (2) Science Award of the Universitaetsbund Universitaet Hohenheim e.V. in appreciation of the habilitation treatise (1999).

Prof. Anwar is currently working as Assistant Professor at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He did his PhD (Microbial Genetics) from King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2016. He has different Research interests such as 1. Remediation of different contaminants from soil and water using microorganism. 2. Green synthesis of nano-particles/nano-composite using plant extract with emphasis on Bactericidal, Fungicidal, Insecticidal and anti-proliferative effect. 3. Bacterial resistant towards Drug 4. Plant microbe interaction.

Dr. Bruce Alan Bunnell obtained his Ph.D. degree (1990) in microbiology (molecular genetics) from University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He holds the following key positions: (1) Chair, Division of Gene Therapy, Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA (2002 to present); (2) Director, Center for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine, Tulane University (2009 to present); and (3) Gratis Faculty, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA (2008 to present). He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 135 articles in various journals (having total number of citations of around 7,120), over 13 book chapters, and 2 books.

Professor Wilfred Chen joined the University of Delaware in January 1, 2011 as the Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering. He obtained his B.S. degree from UCLA in 1988 and his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1993, both in Chemical Engineering. After one-year postdoc in Switzerland, he joined UC Riverside in 1994. He was Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the holder of Presidential Chair until 2010. His research interests are in Synthetic Biology and Protein Engineering. Prof. Chen has published more than 220 journal papers and delivered over 70 invited lectures. He serves on the editorial board for seven scientific publications including Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology and Bioengineering. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Prof. Chen has also received several awards, including NSF Career Award, AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division 15c Plenary Lecture, Biotechnology Progress Award for Excellence in Biological Engineering Publication, and Daniel I.C. Wang Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering.

Dr. Palashpriya Das is an Assistant Professor at NIPER Hajipur, Bihar, India. She did Ph.D. in Biotechnology in 2009 from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, (M.Tech. in Biotechnology in 2005 from Jadavpur University, India. Her research interests are in Marine Probiotics, Biosurfactants, and Nano-biotechnology. She has 22 publications along with 2 book chapters and she has filed 2 patents. She has attended and organized a number of workshops and conferences. She has received a number of awards such as International Young Scientist Award from Institute of Microbiology at Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (2012-2013), Senior Research Associateship (CSIR Pool Scheme) from CSIR, Govt. of India (2014). She has guided a number of research projects such as i. Emu and emulsification activity and antibiotic activity profiles of saponins isolated from Zizyphus sp. ii). Antibiotic sensitivity profiles of Staphylococcus isolates from skin, nasal and oral cavities of human subjects etc. She is on the editorial board of a number of international journals and she is also included in a number of scientific societies.

Dr. Roya Dastjerdi is a PhD, an Associate Professor, and winner of numerous national and international awards. She has comprehensively worked on medical textiles for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, green, smart, bioactive and antibacterial polymers, size and geometry controlled synthesizing of nanostructures, etc. She has written one book in the field and recorded 20 national patents. She has been selected as national elite and received more than 100 international invitations from high-ranked scientific events, institutes, publications, etc

Dr. Fatih Deniz obtained his Ph.D. degree in the field of Environmental Biotechnology, Department of Biological Sciences from the University of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam (Turkey). He is currently an associate professor and department chair at the Department of Environmental Protection Technologies at Harran University in Turkey. His research interest focuses mainly on the bioremediation technologies such as biosorption and bioaccumulation for the purification of water environments especially polluted with organic and inorganic substances like synthetic dyes and heavy metal ions. His publications include numerous peer-reviewed articles in the international SCI/SCI-E indexed journals and many congress papers in his field of specialization. He is also an editorial board member in many international journals.

Dr. Kasi Pandima Devi is currently working as Associate Professor in Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, India. She obtained her PhD degree in Biochemistry (2001) from University of Madras, India and subsequently did her PostDoctoral research from National Institute of Immunology, India and CID-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain (2002). Her research interest is mainly focused on screening of drugs from the nature and elucidation of molecular mechanisms of the identified compounds for treatment of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. She has published many research articles in peer-reviewed Journals and also co-authored many book chapters. She is a recipient of Young Women Scientist Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu, India and Women Scientist Award from the Biotech Research Society of India.

Prof. Hesham Ali El Enshasy is the Director of Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD) and Professor in Bioprocess Engineering, University Technology Malaysia (UTM, Johor Bahru, Malaysia). He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology from Ain Shams University, Egypt, Dr. rer. Nat. in Industrial Biotechnology (TU Braunschweig, Germany 1998, M.Sc. Technology Management (UTM, Malaysia). He established many research and industrial platforms for the industrial production of different bioactive metabolites using microbial, mammalian and plant cells in many universities, research institutes and companies. He has to his credit two technology patents and more than 150 publications in peer reviewed international journals, book chapters, and books. He has been invited as a keynote, plenary, and guest speaker in more than 50 international conferences in the field of industrial biotechnology.

Dr. José Manuel Guisan obtained his Ph.D. degree (1979) in Biochemistry from University Autonoma of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Guisan is currently a full Professor at Spanish Research Council (CSIC) since 2001 and a Visiting Professor at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. All his research activity has been focused on the implementation of enzymes as industrial catalysts. That is, in the development of strategies that allow to overcome the limitations of enzymes (instability, low activity towards non-natural substrates, difficulty of purification, etc.) to be able to use their excellent catalytic properties. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 400 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 16,250.

Dr. S. Dutta Gupta, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, has been engaged both in teaching and research on Plant Developmental Biology for over 30 years. He has published more than 100 research papers in journals of repute and books published by Springer and CRC Press. He has been able to bring engineering-plant tissue culture link to a new dimension of understanding. His current research areas include: plant image analysis for non- invasive assessment of plant health status deciphering photosynthetic ability, elucidating the role of light emitting diodes in plant growth and development and biological activity of metal nanoparticles.

Dr Shamsher S. Kanwar, a Senior Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla (India) does research in nanotechnology, medicinal chemistry & biocatalysis. One of his current projects is 'Improvement of activities of industrially important enzymes (lipase, cholesterol oxidase, ribonuclease, L-methionase, alkaline protease & peroxidase) by protein engineering, rational design and enzyme immobilization'. Dr. Kanwar has guided 175 students for their Post Graduate Degrees in Biotechnology with dissertation(s), 26 students for Master of Philosophy Degree and 16 students for Ph.D. Degree in Biotechnology. He has published 185 papers in national and international journals. He has also filed six patents and five of these have already been published.

Dr. L. Karthik is presently a PostDoctoral Scientist in ECUST, Shanghai, China under the guidance of eminent scientist Prof. Lixin Zhang. His interest, as a postdoctoral fellow at ECUST, is to develop the CRISPR/Cas12a assisted tools for metabolic engineering. He has published around 70 research papers in international and national peer reviewed journals. He is a communication committee member of International Chemical Biology Society. In 2016, he got Prestigious “Young Scientist Award” from Indian Association of Applied Microbiologists for his outstanding research work and also he got best research scholar award-2012 from VIT University. He got 200 young scientist-2012 fellowship (DST) to attend international conference.

Dr. Kotakadi did M.Sc., Ph.D in Virology with more than three years’ of experience as a Post-doctoral fellow at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. He worked as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Vidyanikethan Engineering College, A.Ragampet, Tirupati, from 2008 to 2011 and Head in the Department of Biotechnology, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, A.Ragampet, Tirupati. He is currently working as Research Scientist, working in the area of Nanomaterials and Therapeutic biomedical applications.. He has developed key skills necessary for the analysis of molecular and cellular changes associated with Plant and Human diseases. These include current and cutting-edge in viral, Molecular techniques in Molecular virology, Cancer biology, Cell biology, Molecular biology and Nanotechnology.

Dr. Vinay Kumar is working as Assistant Professor at Central University of Punjab. His area of researches is Plant Genetic & Metabolic Engineering, Seed Development and Plant-Viral Interaction. He has already published more than 35 publications in peer reviewed journals and edited one book.

Prasun Kumar is an Applied Microbiologist and Biotechnologist. His main areas of research are Microbial Biodiversity, Bioenergy, Biopolymers, Antibacterial, and Antibiofilm compounds. Dr. Prasun holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, India. He has over seven years of experience in applied microbiological research and bioprocessing including over 2 years of post-doctoral research experience at Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea. Presently, he is working as an Assistant Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea. He made scientific contributions while working on valorizing lignocellulosic biowastes as cheap raw materials into value-added products including bioenergy, biopolymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates, etc. He has more than 28 articles published in various peer-reviewed SCI journals and has edited 2 books.

Dr. Vinod Labhasetwar, Ph.D., is currently a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Cancer Nanomedicine program. His laboratory’s primary research focus over the past 25+ years has been in both basic and translational nanomedicine, with specific interest in cancer imaging and therapy (metastasis, drug resistance), cardiovascular diseases (restenosis, cardiac arrhythmia), and neuroprotective treatments for CNS injuries (stroke, spinal cord and blast-associated traumatic brain injury). He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, editorials, and has given over 100 invited talks. Moreover, Dr. Labhasetwar has over 20 US and International patents.

Chi Lee, Ph.D. is Professor in the division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UMKC, and began at the school on September 1, 1999. He received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Seoul National University and then went on to complete his MS in pharmacokinetics from the University of Washington in Seattle and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Before coming to UMKC, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeast Louisiana University. He has been working on the development and evaluation of implantable formulations, transdermal/transmucosal and gene delivery systems for cardiovascular diseases as well as inflammatory diseases including AIDS.

Dr. Carla M. Lopes did PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology. She is an Assistant Professor at the Fernando Pessoa University. She has more than 10 years’ of experience in the development of lipid-based nanocarriers for targeting delivery of different pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical compounds. Carla is the co-author of diverse scientific full-length articles published in international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Peter X Ma received his B.S. in Polymer Chemistry and M.S. in Polymer Materials from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Rutgers University. He then did his postdoctoral research at MIT and Harvard Medical School on Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan. He is a tenured Full Professor with quadruple appointments in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences in the School of Dentistry, the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Macromolecular Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. He has published around 230 journal articles and book chapters along with 4 books to his credit.

Dr. Datta Madamwar obtained his M.Sc. in Microbiology from Nagpur University, Nagpur, and Ph.D. from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. Since Jun 1998, he is Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar. His major work involves molecular phylogenetic approaches (based on 16S rDNA amplification, RFLP, ARDRA, DGGE, TGGE, etc.) to determine Uncultivable and Cultivable bacterial diversity of heavy metal resistant bacteria and polycyclic aromatic compounds degrading organisms. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 200 articles in various journals, having total number of citations of around 4,715.

Dr. Mita completed his graduation Physics and started his scientific career in on 1970 as a Researcher of CNR. He then became the Director of Research. Since 1991 Prof. Mita became full professor of Biophysics at the Second University of Naples. His main research activity is the application of the technology of immobilized enzymes in agro-food and pharmaceutical industry, and in the field of ecotoxicology, particularly on the effects of endocrine disruptors in living organisms. Prof. Mita authored 130 papers, several chapters and some patents. Actually, Prof. Mita is the Director of the National Laboratory on Endocrine Disruptors of the Interuniversity Consortium INBB.

Ryuichi Morishita, M.D., Ph.D., graduated Osaka University Medical School in 1987, and received Ph. D. from Osaka University in 1991. After postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 1994 to 1998. Then, from 1998 to 2003, he was Associate Professor in the Division of Gene Therapy Science, Osaka University Medical School. Then, he became Professor & Chairman of Division of Clinical Gene Therapy, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 2003.

Dr. Vikneswaran Murugaiyah obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2008 from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Currently, he is employed as Associate Professor and Deputy Dean (Research, Postgraduates & Networking) in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia. His research interest are Hormetic phytochemicals and cholinesterase inhibitors for neurodegenerative and lipid disorders. Dr. Murugaiyah has published over 100 manuscripts with citations greater than 915.

Dr. Poonam Singh (Nigam) did PhD in Industrial Microbiology in 1985, then Postdoctoral Research Fellow from Germany during 1985-1988 and joined the Ulster University, UK as full time staff in 1990. She is a qualified Chartered Biologist (1992). She received the post-graduate qualification from the University Teaching, UK (1998), Fellow and Senior Fellow from The Higher Education Academy, UK in 2007 and 2014, respectively. She is the Fellow of Royal society of Biology, London UK, Fellow of the Centre of Higher Education Research & Practice, UK 2014, Fellow of the International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses, France 2014 and Fellow of The Biotechnology Research Society India (2013).

Bing Niu is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Science at Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. His research has focused upon the novel algorithms for bioinformatics techniques and drug design, and has led to authorship on over 50 scientific articles with more than 500 citations. Currently, he served as guest editor of BioMedResearch International and Current Pharmaceutical Design.

B. Ostash graduated in Genetics from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (IFNUL) in 1999. He spent the next four years working on his Ph.D. on understanding the biosynthesis of antitumor antibiotic landomycin E. Since 2003, he has been working in the field of actinobacterial genetics and genomics, first as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Suzanne Walker (Harvard Medical School), and then as an independent researcher at IFNUL. In 2011, he took a part-time teaching position in the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology of IFNUL. He teaches courses in genomics and bioinformatics. His research interests mainly focus on genetics and the evolution of microbial (particularly actinobacterial) secondary metabolism.

Dr. Pandey is a Ph.D. in the area of Microbiology. Her research areas are Microbial Diversity and Biotechnological Applications, that includes Rhizosphere Microbiology (Microbial inoculants), Extremophiles: Thermophiles and Psychrophiles, Microbial enzymes and bioactive compounds, Water microbes (Coliforms), Plant based antimicrobials, and Microbiology of fermented foods. Dr. Pandey is a member of Expert Committee on Soil, Sediment and Microbial Diversity. She is also an eitorial board member of many international journals, such as International Journal of Tea Science.

Prof. Pandey received Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India and pursed his post-doctoral research work in Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California at Berkeley. Currently, he is working as Professor in the Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Delhi University South Campus. His group’s research interest is to understand the detail mechanistic interplay of signal transduction networks in plants under mineral nutrient deficiency and abiotic stresses. He has published more than 60 scientific publications, edited 7 books/volumes and also has 2 US patents.

Dr. Sanjay K. S. Patel received his B.Sc. degree (Chemistry) from Banaras Hindu University, M.Sc. (Biotechnology) from Himachal Pradesh University, and a Ph.D. (Biotechnology) from the University of Pune, Pune, India. He studied microbial biodiversity exploration for biotechnological applications. Dr. Patel is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. His primary research interest includes bioactive molecules, antimicrobials, biofuels, biopolymers, bioremediation, biocatalysts, protein engineering, and nanotechnology.

Kun Ping Lu, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Chief of the Division of Translational Therapeutics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He discovers a unique phosphorylation-specific proline isomerase, Pin1 that helps protect against Alzheimer’s disease and whose aberrant activation helps promote the development of cancer. Based on these discoveries, his laboratory is working to develop an antibody therapy for the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury, and Pin1 chemical inhibitors to overcome drug resistance in cancer treatments.

Dr. Krishna Mohan Poluri is currently working as an Associate. Professor at Biotechnology Department, IIT-Roorkee. He completed his PhD from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research TIFR-Mumbai, and Post-doc from Rutgers University & University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB-Texas). His areas of expertise are Structural Biology, Protein Engineering, Bio- molecular Interactions, Glycoimmunology, Virology and Structure based design of Therapeutics and Scaffolds, Bionanotechnology, Algal Biotechnology etc. He has published ~ 75 Research articles and book chapters in various reputed international Journals such as Journal of Biological chemistry (JBC) Biochemistry, BBA General Subjects, Biochemical Journal, RSC Advances, Carbohydrate Polymers and Biotechnology for Biofuels etc. He authored a book on “Protein Engineering Techniques”. He won several awards and fellowships for his research work. Most prominent are: Young scientist awards from Indian Science Congress association (ISCA) -2009, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI)-2014, and Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA)-2013 by DBT.

Dr. Guy M. Poppy, did DPhil from the University of Oxford (1987- 1990). He did BSc, from the ARCS Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine (1984-1987). He was appointed as a Visiting Professor – Imperial College (2010). Since 2011, he is a Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Research and Director of University Strategic Research Groups (reporting to PVC Research). He is responsible for coordinating multidisciplinary strategy at the University of Southampton and Leading 11 Grand Challenge cross-faculty groupings securing about £100 million of research income and central to the University Vision and Strategy.

Carlo Pozzi is an accomplished plant geneticist. He got a PhD from Cologne University (Germany), at the Max-Planck Institute. He led plant research laboratories in public and private sectors, in Italy and Switzerland. He was appointed as Associate Professor at the University of Milano in 2015.

Dr. Anil Puniya has contributed remarkably in the field of animal sciences especially in dairy & rumen microbiology. Most outstandingly, he reported two novel genera of anaerobic fungi (Oontomyces anksri & Buwchfawromyces eastonii), which were only the 7th & 8th genera since their discovery in mid-seventies. His research was not limited only to publish in reputed journals >150 research/ reviews/ chapters; 03 books; 05 manuals; news & views; but also developed most-efficient direct-fed microbials that improved animal-nutrition & productivity.

Dr. Xianghui Qi is working as a Full Professor in the School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. His research interests are Biosynthesis of high value-added chemicals by microbes and engineered strains; Discovery of novel genes, enzymes and new strains; Rational & Irrational design of microbial enzymes; Isolation, identification and evolution of microbes; Metabolic engineering & Pathway engineering of functional microbes, and biotransformation; Metabolic regulation based on the research of microbial omics; Application of high value-added products including functional sugar alcohols by biosynthesis and biotransformation based on microbial engineered strains. He has 113 publications to his credit.

Arthur Ragauskas held the first Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy and is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Wood Science and TAPPI. In 2014, he assumed a Governor’s Chair for Biorefining based in University of Tennessee’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, with a complementary appointment in the UT Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries and serves in the US Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Biosciences Division, at ORNL. His research program is directed at understanding and exploiting innovative sustainable bioresources for biofuels, and bio-based materials and chemicals.

Dr. Manoj K. Rai is currently working as Assistant Professor at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, M.P., India. He completed his Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Subsequently, Dr. Rai has worked as Dr. DS Kothari Post Doc fellow and SERB young scientist at Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur. He has expertise in the area of plant tissue culture, molecular genetics and genomics and worked on a number of trees, fruit and medicinal plant species. Dr. Rai has published more than 55 articles (including research papers, review papers and book chapters) in various journals/books of international reputes. He has 28 h-index and more than 3150 google scholar citation

Dr. Daniel Rittschof obtained Ph.D. degree (1975) and M.S. degree from University of Michigan (1970). He was awarded Community Choice Award, Langmuir in 2011 and also awarded Quarterly Journal of Ship Hull Performance in 2011. His areas of focus are: 1) Ecology and behavioral biology of local macroinvertebrates such as blue crabs and mud snails; 2) Barnacle models as they relate to fouling and the prevention of fouling and bioadhesives; 3. Impacts of xenobiotics on behavior and reproduction.

Dr. Badal Saha obtained his Ph.D. in Microbial Technology from Kyushu University, Japan. He is working as Research Chemist at USDA-ARS, Peoria, IL. Dr. Saha has over 32 years of research experience in fermentation and industrial biotechnology. He has authored 181 research publications (including book chapters and review articles), 198 meeting abstracts and 9 patents. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Fermentation (open access journal). Dr. Saha has served as President of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (2010-11). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Professor Peer Schenk graduated from Georg August University in Göttingen and completed his PhD from the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne. He heads a large research team at The University of Queensland, Australia where he is finding game-changing solutions from Science and Technology to address Food and Energy Security (www.schenklab.com). His work includes the development of new disease resistant plants and algae for food, feed and biofuel, leading to >180 papers and 7 patents. He developed new commercial crop cultivars, constructed the first Algae Energy Farm in Australia and founded start-up companies Nexgen Plants and Qponics Pty Ltd.

Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Shekhawat’s research involves various aspects related to plant biotechnology, molecular biology and stress physiology. He also studies biochemical aspects of medicinal and aromatic plant species and there in vitro propagation and conservation, specifically rare and endangered plants of Indian Thar Desert. Prof. Shekhawat completed his PhD from University of Rajasthan, and since then continuously engaged in research. Initially started as a CSIR Post Doc Fellow, and a recipient of prestigious BOYSCAST fellowship through which he worked at University of South Florida, USA on Nanobiotechnology. Dr Shekhawat has also been awarded by INSA International Exchange Fellowship, Young Researcher Award, Professor YS Murthy Gold medal by Indian Botanical Society. He has also completed several research projects funded by national and international funding agencies. Prof. Shekhawat has published several books and more than 65 research papers/articles in journal of international repute. Prof. Shekhawat has 21 h-index; 36 i-10 index and more than 1521 total citation which indicated his outstanding contribution in plant research and development. Presently Dr. Gyan Singh Shekhawat is working on ENP’s (engineered nanoparticle), Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and Nitric oxide (NO) signaling and their role in plants growth and metabolism.

Dr. Ashok K. Shetty, obtained his B.Sc. degree in Zoology, Chemistry and Botany, Mysore University, Mysore, India (1980). He did M.Sc. in Human Anatomy, Mysore University, Mysore, India (1983). Later, he became Ph.D. in Neuroscience, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India (1990). Since 1991, Dr. Shetty is a Medical Research Scientist, Medical Research Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Currently he is also a Professor in Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. His peer reviewed publications include 89 research articles, 71 original research articles and 18 review articles.

Prof. Dr. Soner Soylu received his PhD from Wye College, University of London, UK in 1998. He is working at the Department of Plant Protection, Mustafa Kemal University, Agriculture Faculty as Academician & Researcher Professor Dr. He has more than 20 years’ of research experience and has guided MSc and PhD thesis & Studied in the field of Plant Pathology. He is the principal investigator in several externally funded projects in this area. He has published more hundreds research papers, book chapters and conference proceedings. His published research papers in different aspects have been extensively cited and has been included among "The Top 10 Cited Papers" in a particular Journal category in the area of Agriculture Science.

Dr. Indresh K. Srivastava is currently the Manufacturing Technology Site Head, Meriden and Pearl River, Sanofi Pasteur. He did his Ph.D in the year 1984 from Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India. He was selected as Fellow of the month by ISV in the year 2018. His research interests are Molecular Biology, Modern glycoprotein & carbohydrate characterization techniques, Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Srivastava is also Member of Scientific Advisory Boards and reviewer of numerous international Journals.

Dr. Jeffrey Paul Sutton did his undergraduate studies in Mathematics and Physics, subsequently earning his M.D., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (Theoretical Physics) degrees from the University of Toronto. He completed his postgraduate medical education at Harvard Medical School. He is the Friedkin Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and also the Chairman of the Board of the NASA-supported Translational Research Institute for Space Health. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Dr. Tomohiro Tamura did both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Major in Nutrition / Sports Sciences) from the University of Tsukuba in 1987 and 1989. Later he obtained his Ph.D. degree (Majoring in Molecular Biology) from University of Tokushima in 1993. Since 2014, Dr. Tamura has been a director of Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Dr. Tamura has also been a Professor in the Laboratory of Molecular Environmental Microbiology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University since 2002. He has around 130 publications in original peer-reviewed articles and 13 in review articles or book chapters.

Dr. Silvia Vincenzetti obtained her Master Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Camerino, Italy in 1988 and PhD in Biology (curriculum: Biochemical Sciences) in 1990. Since 2005, she is an Associate Professor in Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology in the School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine from University of Camerino. Dr. Vincenzetti has numerous scientific publications to her credit.

Jeremy S. Webb obtained his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from University of Manchester, UK in 2000. He was the Director of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at University of Southampton, UK (2012-2016) and become Professor of Microbiology at University of Southampton, UK (2015-Present). He has published 59 journal articles, 3 book chapters and has filed 2 patents.

Dr. Shang-Tian Yang obtained his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1984. He was awarded Outstanding Contribution Award from Chinese Academic and Professional Association in 1992. His research areas include Biotechnology, Bioengineering, and Bioprocessing. His current research program covers two important areas in bioprocessing and bioengineering. The first one is animal cell culture and tissue engineering; the second one is bioprocessing for value-added products. He has published 280 general articles and 24 patents.

Dr. Cankui Zhang is an Associate Professor in Crop Molecular Physiology in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. He was trained as a basic plant molecular physiologist before joining Purdue. At Purdue he is using his knowledge in basic plant biology to improve the quality and productivity of crops. His research focuses on the yield improvement via the manipulation of carbon partitioning; whole plant signaling under either abiotic (mineral deficiency) or biotic (root-microbe interactions) stress; genetic engineering to increase Fe/Zn accumulation in tubers and seeds; and heat/drought stress. Crops involved in his research include maize, soybean, rice, wheat, and tomato.

Dr. Zhang has extensive expertise and experiences in translational biomedical research, particularly translational medicine, cancer therapy and prevention, pharmacogenomics and therapeutics. He has published more than 210 papers, 2 books, more than 50 invited reviews/book chapters, and more than 180 meeting abstracts. Dr. Zhang has made more than 200 invited presentations. He is a certified toxicologist by the American Board of Toxicology (D.A.B.T.). He is also an editor-in-chief, associate-editor-in-chief, associate editor, or editorial board member of 25 scientific journals. Dr. Zhang has been elected as a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2009.

Dr Shengdong Zhu studied the biochemical engineering and bio-energy technology from Wuhan Institute of Technology. He obtained his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry in 1992, and gained his PhD degree in Microbiology Engineering from Huazhong Agricultural University in 2005. He is a professor in the School of Chemical Engineering & Pharmacy, Wuhan Institute of Technology since 2006. He has published over 100 papers in peer reviewed international scientific journals. He is on the editorial board of two international journals.

Dr. William Kennedy has academic experience in the areas of structural biology, molecular genetics, protein chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, developmental biology, pediatrics and infectious diseases. He is a specialist in pediatric infectious disease in San Francisco, California. He received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He is currently a Senior Medical Director at Genentech (September 2012 – Present). His professional goals include regenerative medicine, biotech innovation in novel drug platforms, novel biomarkers, translational medicine, infectious disease, autoimmunity, neurobiology and pediatric drug development.

Dr. Jesper Lau studied biology and chemistry from the University of Southern Denmark. After his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1990, and a research visitor stay in the group of Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University in California, he joined Health Care Discovery at Novo Nordisk. Jesper Lau has long-term expertise within combinatorial chemistry, medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, but since 2002, he has been engaged in protein and peptide engineering. His main focus has been to establish technologies to improve the therapeutic properties of endogenous peptides and proteins.

Dr. Stacy R. Lindborg, Ph.D., is a Vice President, Biostatistics, Biogen Idec, where she has been working since 2012. Prior to this, she was at Eli Lilly & Company for 16 years spanning a number of roles, including Sr. Dir., Global Statistics & Advanced Analytics, Director R&D Strategy & Decision Sciences, etc. Dr. Lindborg’s research interests include applications of novel design and analysis methods to solve real world problems in the pharmaceutical industry. Specific areas of interest include Bayesian methodology, Adaptive Designs, Missing Data problems, and Portfolio Productivity. She has 35+ collaborative and methodological manuscripts published in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 2,580 (Scopus accessed on 10-Nov-2017).

Dr. Raju obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the University of Mysore, Mysore, INDIA. Dr. Raju also holds a Masters in Chemistry from the University of Mysore. Currently Dr. Raju is a Senior Director and Head of Global Bioassay & Quality at Medimmune. He has published more than 40 scientific publications including several book chapters and is named inventor of several issued U.S and worldwide patents. Dr. Raju is currently serving as the Editorial Board member of several journals.

John leads the clinical research group within Purdue Pharma, Stamford, CT. Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Renger spent 15 years with Merck where he was a key innovator for Belsomra , a first-in-class dual orexin receptor antagonist for primary insomnia. John was a Merck-MIT Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his work focused on understanding the genetic, developmental and physiological basis of memory. Before MIT, Dr. Renger worked at the Institute for Chemical and Physical Research, RIKEN, Japan studying the genetic basis of plasticity in the visual system. Dr. Renger earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from the University of Iowa.

Dr. Alison Schecter, M.D., completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and her Cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital with a research fellowship at Mount Sinai. She is currently a Vice President of Cardiovascular and Metabolism (CVM) Scientific Innovation at the J&J Innovation Center, Boston. In her role at J&J, Dr. Schecter is responsible for identifying novel product opportunities and technologies, leading cross-functional teams, both internally and externally, and jointly developing deal structures. In a global health role, her NIH-supported academic research focused on chemokine and cytokine signaling in cardiovascular and viral diseases with over 50 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Bernardo Silva is an Economist and International Affairs professional with experience of over a decade, of global corporate and government affairs, in Latin America, North America and Europe, and has an extensive network of top-level government authorities, international organizations’ officials, and senior executives from the world’s leading corporations. He is currently Executive President at Brazilian Industrial Biotechnology Association (ABBI), Brazil (Jan 2015 to Present). His specialties include International Business Development; Strategic Advice; Partnerships and Community Building; Global Corporate and Government Affairs; Foreign Direct Investments and Trade Promotion; Policy Analysis and Advocacy.

Paul-Peter Tak received his medical degree cum laude from the Free University in Amsterdam and was trained as an internist, rheumatologist and immunologist at Leiden University Medical Center, where he also received his PhD. He served as Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam (AMC) for 12 years. He is currently Chief Immunology Officer and Senior Vice President R&D Pipeline at GSK. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Michael Wagner is currently Director, Head of Peptides, R&TM Diabetes Division, at Sanofi, Frankfurt, Germany (Oct 2012 to Present). He is also Director Medicinal Chemistry / Head of Medicinal Chemistry 3 - R&D Diabetes Division, at Sanofi-Aventis (Apr 2010 to Present). Previously he worked on the following positions at Sanofi: (1) Senior Principal Scientist, Sanofi-Aventis (Jan 2006 to Apr 2010); and (2) Research Scientist, Sanofi-Aventis (Feb 2002 to Dec 2005). This shows that he has been committed to working at Sanofi and has contributed to a large extent in terms of success at this company.

Dr. Wasserman received his M.D., Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Medical School and his B.S., Magna Cum Laude from Haverford College. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. Currently, Dr. Wasserman is the Vice President, Head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Therapeutic Area and Head of the Development Design Center at Amgen. He is responsible for Amgen’s cardiovascular and metabolic strategy through the development and registration of novel cardiovascular and metabolic therapeutics, evaluating and in-licensing external assets, and optimizing and innovating the design of clinical development programs and studies across Amgen.

Dr. Dennis M. Zaller completed his B.S. (1979) in Biology from University at Albany (SUNY), New York, USA. Dr. Zaller then obtained his Ph.D. (1987) in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in the City of New York. He is currently Executive Director at Celgene (Oct 2015 to Present), where he focuses on Alliance Research, Immunology & Inflammation. Previously, he has worked on the following positions: (1) Executive Director, Merck (Sep 1990 to Sep 2015), and (2) Senior Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology (Sep 1987 to Aug 1990).

Dr. Saurabh Bhatia earned his Ph.D. degree (2015) in Pharmaceutical technology from Jadavpur University, India. Dr. Saurabh currently serves as the Associate Professor in Amity Institute of Pharmacy, Amity University, India. His current research is broadly in the fields of biotechnology, natural product science, nanotechnology, parasitology, polymeric sciences and biomaterials. He has also been a pioneer in the exploration of various algae based polymers and its various applications in various pharmaceutical sciences. He is the author of 10 books in biotechnology, nanotechnology, biopolymers, microbiology, author/co-author of several scientific articles, and the Editor of various scientific journals. His research focuses on the pharmaceutical importance of biopolymers and their applications in advanced drug delivery systems.

Professor Targon Campana received her PhD in Science, from the University of São Paulo (2002), in the field of Applied Physics. She was advisor to the Coordination of the Instituto de Estudos Brasil Europa - IBE from 2012 to 2014, gave more than 20 lectures at National and International Institutions, 15 oral presentations at scientific events (and more than 50 posters), and has 25 works dedicated to the public in general (among articles in general media and press releases). She has participated in more than 30 jury boards (in Brazil and abroad), and currently, has more than 450 citations in international literature. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at the University of São Paulo and coordinates the Biomaterials and Spectroscopy Group, which focus on projects involving the development of biomaterials and conformational studies of polymers and biopolymers by electronic and vibrational spectroscopies. She is the Coordinator of the Brazilian part of the Cooperation Agreement between the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at USP and the Universite de Pau et des Pays de l’ADOUR (France). She is Observer for the Subcommittee on Polymer Terminology and Member of the Subcommittee on Polymer Education, both at IUPAC. She also studied mechanisms and processes of public scientific communication and the development of effective tools for intentional public communication.

Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi works as an Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Tanta University, and his Ph.D. degree in Plant Genetics and Molecular Biology from Technological University Dublin in Ireland. Afterward, Dr. El-Esawi joined the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, University of Sorbonne (Paris VI) in France, University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, and the University of Cambridge, UK as a Visiting Research Fellow. His research focuses on plant genetics, genomics, molecular biology, molecular physiology, developmental biology, plant-microbe interaction, and bioinformatics. He has authored several international journal articles and book chapters and participated at more than 60 conferences and workshops worldwide.

Dr. Muhammad Irfan is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, University of Sargodha Pakistan. He received his doctorate degree from Shenyang Agricultural University P.R. China. He is also a researcher at Food & Biotechnology Research Center, PCSIR laboratories complex, Ferozpure road Lahore Pakistan. He is an editorial/advisory board member of various international repute journals. He has published many research articles in national and international repute journals.

Dr. Gurumurthy Dummi Mahadevan is working as Assistant Professor at GM Institute of Technology, Davangere, India. He has earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Kuvempu University, India in 2013. He has received his first postdoc from Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India. He also received his second postdoc from Institute of Urban Environment, Xiamen, China in field of bioenergy and biofuels. His current research is biofuels, bioenergy, energetics and biomaterials. He has published more than 20 research publications and Books/chapters. He is currently serving as an Editor for various scientific journals and received several awards for his outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology.

Dr. Fan-hao Meng did B.S. ShenYang from Pharmaceutical University, ShenYang, China in 1988. He also obtained his M.S. ShenYang from Pharmaceutical University ShenYang, China and Ph.D. ShenYang from Pharmaceutical University, ShenYang, China in 1991 and 2004, respectively. Since 2004, he is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, ShenYang, China. Dr. Meng has numerous honors and publications to his credit.

Dr. Mohd. Mohsin is an Assistant Professor in JMI, New Delhi, India. He did his BSc Biotechnology and MSC Biosciences from JMI. In 2009, he was awarded ICMR-JRF fellowship. His research interest focuses around the understanding and unraveling the molecular events in the living cells and developing “Genetically Encoded Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)-based nanosensors. Dr. Mohsin’s contribution was considered quite impactful by scientific community and he received the “Young Scientist award” in 2015 from the government of India and also “innovative research award” in 2017. Dr. Mohsin is currently serving as editorial member and reviewer of several journals.

Dr. Sarma obtained his PhD in medicinal organic chemistry from Wake Forest University, USA. Further as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri he developed multifunctional nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery and tissue imaging and also served as the NMR spectroscopy laboratory manager in the Nano-Medicine center at the University of Missouri. Currently, as a staff researcher at the Metabolomics center of the University of Missouri, he investigates integrated application of NMR and mass spectroscopy methods towards biomarker discovery for various diseases in plants and human. He has published his research work in various high impact journals and serves as a reviewer for multiple international publishers.

Dr. Sinosh Skariyachan, is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. He has pursued his post graduations in Microbiology (M. Sc) and Bioinformatics (M. Sc) and obtained his Ph. D in Biotechnology. He has fifteen years of experience in teaching and research. His key research domains are Medical Microbiology (Antimicrobial resistance), Environmental and Food Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Genomics and Proteomics, Molecular Modeling and Computational Drug Designing. His major research focuses are selection and screening of novel natural therapeutic against probable drug targets of multidrug resistant bacteria isolated from various sources by structure based virtual screening approaches.

Dr. S. Srinivasan completed Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry from Annamalai University. He is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology in Annamalai University. He has 18 years of teaching experience and 13 years of research experience. He has published more than 22 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a reviewer and editorial board member in several reputed journals. He is an active member of about 2 medical societies and received honors and awards i.e. Young Investigator Award in Science and Engineering Research Board from government of India. Currently, he is committed in exploring the naturally occurring phytochemicals for intervention of diabetes mellitus. This involves conducting anti-diabetic studies with natural plant sources in animal models

Katarzyna Wińska studied chemistry at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland, from 1994-1999. She received PhD degree in the field of organic chemistry from the University of Wroclaw, Poland, in 2008. She received habilitation degree in the fields of biological sciences and biotechnology from the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, in 2017. She was the laureate of the competition "Inventor 2011" organized by the Chief of Technical Organization, the Polish Patent Office, the Association of Polish Inventors and Innovators and editor of the "Przegląd Techniczny" (“Technical Review”).

Dr Dangwei Zhou is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Key lab of Evolution and Adaptation of Plateau Biota, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, CAS. He has more than 15 years of research experience. He is also the adjunct professor of Xi'an International University. He has published 40 original research papers and registered 2 patents. His research interest includes alpine plant physiology and biotechnology.

WANG Weimin, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Animal Genetic and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University. He was awarded “The Light of the West - training program for young scholars in Western China”. Dr. Wang’s research interests are the genetic mechanism of sheep, important economic characters and analysis of next generation sequencing data. His findings have been published in BMC Genomics, Animal, Genomics, Frontiers in Genetics, International Journal of Molecular Science, Scientific Reports, Genes, Animal Reproduction Science, Animals, Molecular Biology Reports, etc.