Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Crop Modification, Nutrition, and Food Production

Suresh Kumar Dubey is Associate Professor in the Molecular Ecology Lab at the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, India. His interests include structure and function of microbial community involved in controlling the methane emission, screening and utilization of microbes for their potential role in bioremediation, studies on prevalence of some pathogenic microbes in clinical and food samples and their response for drug resistance. He has been the editor of the Indian Journal of Microbiologysince 2009 and has won multiple awards for his work, including Biotech Research Society of India Young Scientist Medal 2004, DST- BOYSCAST Govt of India fellowship 2006, INSA visiting fellowship 2012, and JSPS Invitation fellowship 2012 among others.

Professor Ashok Pandey is currently Executive Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability-India, Lucknow. He is HSBS National Innovation Chair (Biotechnology) and is/has been Visiting/Distinguished Professor in many countries. His major research and technological development interests are industrial & environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels & chemicals, waste to wealth & energy, etc.

Dr. Rajender Singh Sangwan is Founder Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), a national institute at Mohali (Punjab) under Department of Biotechnology (Govt. of India). Also, he continues to be co-affiliated with CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow (India), as Chief Scientist. Dr. Sangwan (M.Sc., 1981; Ph.D., 1987, from Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India) has worked as a faculty at CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) at Lucknow since 1986 at various levels upto Chief Scientist as well as Founder Head of Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology. His profile of project/program/mission leadership include NMITLI Program on Ashwagandha at CSIR-CIMAP, CSIR’s Inter-Laboratory Network Programme on Chemical and Biological Transformations for Value-Addition, CSIR’s Inter-Institutional Network Research Program on 'Plants and Animals as Bioreactor'. As a founder head of CIAB, he leads translational research and innovation programmes on bioprocessing of agri-food and other bioresources. CIAB represents the first institutionalized Secondary Agriculture Initiative in India for R&D on value added products of edible and non-edible nature through integration of chemical and biological processes. His current research interests pertain to Translational Research and Innovations for Secondary Agriculture Biotechnology, covering Primary and Secondary Phytochemicals/Metabolites, Edible and Non-Edible Value-Added Products from Bioresources, Secondary Agriculture Technology Applications, Nutritional and Nutraceutical Products, Alternate Bio/Production Approaches including Synthetic Biology. He has more than 125 publications in leading international journals and books attracting more than 3000 citations with a H-index of 33 and an i10-Index of 71. He has several patents and elite medicinal and aromatic plant varieties to his credit. He members several academic and governing bodies of scientific organizations. He has been awarded with several scientific and academic honours and recognitions including IUBMB Young Scientist (Travel) Award (1992), CSIR Young Scientist (1994), Prof. Umakant Sinha Memorial Award of Indian Science Congress (1997), Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (India), CSIR Technology Award in Life Sciences (2015).