Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Synthetic Biology, Cell Engineering and Bioprocessing Technologies

Dr. Sudhir P. Singh obtained his Ph.D. in the year 2011 from University of Lucknow, India. Subsequently, he worked as research associate and then as Project Scientist at National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, India. He joined Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, India in 2015, as Scientist-C. He has been working in the area of molecular biology, and synthetic biology. In the area of plant molecular biology his some of the significant contribution are: development stringently regulated expression systems for inducing male sterility and male sterility-fertility restoration system in plants, investigation of tissue and cell-type specific distribution pattern of mineral nutrients in wheat grains and its possible impacts on bioavailability, the first transcriptome analysis and molecular insights into seed development biology in the fruit crops, Custard apple and Litchi, and secondary metabolite pathways in Rose-scented geranium, development of approaches based on Rootstock-scion or modified viral genome based long distance signalling as possible strategies for inducing trait modification such as seedlessness. His current research focus is towards development of synthetic biocatalysts for biotransformation of agro-industrial by-products and residues into value added biomolecules. In the area of biosynthetic technology his some of the significant contribution are: development of novel approaches for transformation of agro-industrial residues and bioresources into functional and prebiotic biomolecules, development of a novel strategy for the improvement of operational stability of D-psiose 3-epimerase enzyme. He has been interested in employing the basic knowledge for translational research. He has published 33 research papers in peer reviewed journals, 4 review articles/book chapters, and 4 patents to his credit.

Prof. Ashok Pandey is currently Executive Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability-India, Lucknow. His major research and technological development interests are industrial and environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels and chemicals, waste to wealth and energy, etc.

Professor Guocheng Du is the Dean of School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, China. He is the distinguished professor of Changjiang Scholars, Ministry of Education, China. His current main research focus is on bioprocess engineering and metabolic engineering. He has about 200 publications/communications, which include 52 patents, 8 books, 160 original and review papers, etc. He won two Second Prizes of State Science and Technology Award in 2006 and 2012, respectively. He has been conferred Honorary Doctorate degree from Jiangnan University, China. Professor Guocheng Du is deputy director in the committee of biochemical engineering modelling and control, Chinese Society for Microbiology, and deputy director of Beer Branch, China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association. He is the associate editor of Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture and the editorial board member of Bioresource Technology.

Dr Sudesh Kumar obtained his PhD in 2002 from the Department of Biochemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Subsequently, he worked as post-doctoral fellow at ICGEB, New Delhi (2002-2004). He joined CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur in 2004 as Scientist. In April, 2016, he joined as Scientist-F at Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB). He has been working in the area of plant metabolic engineering and nanobiology and current research focus is towards improving the efficacy of hydrolytic enzymes through synthetic biology and nanobiology approaches for developing the efficient transformation process for biomass into value added products. Dr Kumar has published 110 research articles in peer reviewed journals, one book and 12 book chapters. His work has been cited 5000 times and has an h-index of 35. For his outstanding research contributions in the area of plant sciences, he has been honoured with many prestigious awards such as Indian National Science Academy (INSA)-Young Scientist Award- 2008, The National Academy of Science, India (NASI)-Platinum Jubilee Young Scientist Award-2009, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Young Scientist Award-2010. He has been awarded BOYSCAST Fellowship during 2008 by DST, GOI for conducting advanced research at UCR, Riverside, USA for one year. He has been also selected “NAAS-Associate by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences from 2013 and conferred “Prof. Hira Lal Chakravarty Memorial Award of Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) for the year 2012-2013. He has been honoured with “Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratna Award 2011-12 for his excellent research contributions.