Biotechnology for Sustainable Environment

Dr. Sanket Joshi is a Deputy Director, Oil & Gas Research Center, and an Application Specialist, Oil & Gas Science at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Dr. Joshi has 16 years of academic teaching and research experience, and 4 years of industrial R&D experience, in India and Oman. While working in Indian pharma companies, he undertook several turnkey projects (both upstream and downstream) on antibiotics (β-lactams, macrolides, glycopeptides), antidiabetic drug (for type II diabetes), and Co-enzyme Q10. His current research interests encompass: Energy (In-situ/ex-situ microbial enhanced light/heavy oil recovery; chemical enhanced oil recovery; biofuels); Microbial products (biosurfactants, biopolymers, R&D and scale-up); and Environmental bioremediation. Those research projects are multidisciplinary, involving both biotechnology and engineering disciplines. He serves as an Academic/Associate/Guest Editor for some of the highly reputed journals.

Prof. Arvind Deshmukh has served several academic institutes with a career spanning more than 37 years. During those years he served as the Head of Microbiology department, board member of University Teaching and Research, Board of Studies in Microbiology, Academic Council, District Environment Committee, formed by Govt. of Maharashtra (2000 - 2006), Examination Committee, Research & recognition Committee in Microbiology and Biotechnology, Chairman, Board of studies in Microbiology, and several other important posts in various colleges and Universities across Maharashtra, India. He was awarded as a fellow of Biotech Research Society of India, in 2005. Along with other experts, he formed Microbiologists Society, India, a registered NGO, and is currently serving as President of the society. Currently he tirelessly provides guidance to Microbiology students throughout India and abroad for free, engages subject experts over several topics, provides lectures and trainings.

Dr. Hemen Sarma is currently senior Assistant Professor at Nanda Nath Saikia College, affiliated to the Dibrugarh University, Assam, India [Since 2012]. His research focuses on plant-microbiome interactions, biosurfactants, sustainable remediation, CRISPR/cas9 gene editing and nanobiotechnology. Five books have been edited for John Wiley and Sons, Springer Nature, and Elsevier. He is also book series editor of Advances in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Elsevier. He received numerous awards, distinctions and fellowships, including the DBT-Overseas Associateship [2015-16] and the DBT-Research Associateship [2011-12], the IISc Research Associateship [2009] and the UGC Dr. DS Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards [2009-10]. In 2017–18, Dr. Sarma joined the Visitor Professor Fellowship Program as an affiliate of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, USA.