• Ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA), anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria, and nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-damo) bacteria
• The new archaea which have not been isolated from the ecosystems
• Microbiology of cultural heritage and conservation of art
• Anaerobic degradation and mechanisms of alkanes/aromatics in petroleum reservoirs

                           International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Maulin P. Shah (male), currently Chief Scientist & Head – Industrial Waste Water Research Lab, Division of Applied and Environmental Microbiology Lab at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India, received his Ph.D. (2002-2005) in Environmental Microbiology from Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat. He has served as an Assistant Professor at Godhra, Gujarat University in 2001. He is a Microbial Biotechnologist with diverse research interest. A group of research scholars is working under his guidance on the areas ranging from Applied Microbiology, Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation, and Industrial Liquid Waste Management to solid state fermentation. His primary interest is the environment, the quality of our living resources and the ways that bacteria can help to manage and degrade toxic wastes and restore environmental health. Consequently, I am very interested in genetic adaptation processes in bacteria, the mechanisms by which they deal with toxic substances, how they react to pollution in general and how we can apply microbial processes in a useful way (like bacterial bio reporters). One of our major interests is to study how bacteria evolve and adapt to use organic pollutants as novel growth substrates. Bacteria with new degradation capabilities are often selected in polluted environments and have accumulated small (mutations) and large genetic changes (transpositions, recombination, and horizontally transferred elements). His work has been focused to assess the impact of industrial pollution on microbial diversity of wastewater following cultivation dependant and cultivation independent analysis. His major work involves isolation, screening, identification and Genetic Engineering of high impact of Microbes for the degradation of hazardous materials. He has more than 200 research publication in highly reputed national and international journals. He directs the Research program at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar. He has guided more than 100 Post Graduate students in various disciplines of Life Science. He is an active Editorial Board Member in more than 150 highly reputed Journal’s in the field of Environmental & Biological Sciences. He was Founder Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Environmental Bioremediation and Biodegradation (2012-2014) as well as Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2012-2014) (Science and Education Publishing, USA). He is also serving as a reviewer in various journals of national and international repute. Recently, he has been awarded as a Young Biotechnologist Medal by Biotechnological Society of Nepal”. He was an Associate Editor in Microbiome (Bio Med Cent), BMC Microbiology (Springer Nature), Presently he is an Advisory Board in CLEAN-Soil, Air, Water (Wiley), Editor in Current Pollution Reports (Springer Nature), Editor in Bulletin of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology (Springer Nature), Editor in Environmental Technology & Innovation-ELSEVIER, Editor in Current Microbiology-Springer Nature, Editor in Journal of Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment-Taylor & Francis, Editor in Ecotoxicology (Microbial Ecotoxicology)- Springer Nature, Associate Editor in Geo Microbiology (Springer Nature). He is editing almost 25 books in the area of Environmental Bioremediation & Waste Water Treatment.

• Food Biotechnology
• Bioenergy
•  Enzymology & its Biotechnological applications
• Protein Chemistry

         

Awards

    JSPS visiting Scientist Award (2001)

    Lata Sinha Roy Memorial Award (2000)

    Lata Sinha Roy Memorial Award (2001)

    NCTD Best Paper Award All India Convention Modern Waste Water                                Management (2002)

    Woman Scientist Award of the Biotech Research Society of India (2003)

    Received Recognition Award from the National Academy of Agricultural                        Sciences, New Delhi for outstanding contribution in the area of Agricultural                    Engineering & Technology (2010)

    Received Most Inspiring women Engineer/Scientist for the year-2014, for the                   exemplary work in the field of Science & Technology by Engineering Watch, New           Delhi. (2014)

    Received Panjabrao Deshmukh Award for Outstanding Women Scientist 2012,                from ICAR, New Delhi on 16th July 2013 (2013)

    Received Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award 2013 for outstanding contribution in the                   field of Natural Resource Management and Agricultural Engineering, ICAR,                    New Delhi on 29th July, 2014 ()

    Best Teacher Award, Autumn Sem, IIT Kharagpur (2015)

    Madan Mohan Malviya Senior Faculty Award (2015)

    Best Teacher Award Autumn Semester (2016)

    Prem Dureja Endowment Award for Outstanding contribution in the area of                      Agriculture (2016)

Fellow

    Fellow International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses

    Bioved Society of India

    National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)

    Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI)

Dr. Ramkrishna Sen is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Biotechnology and an Associate Faculty, P K Sinha Center for Bioenergy-&-Renewables, IIT Kharagpur. Prof. Sen worked as an Assistant Professor in BITS, Pilani for about two years and as Manager (R&D-Biotech) in Cadila Pharmaceuticals for three years. He served as a Fulbright Visiting Faculty in Columbia University, New York, USA. He has been engaged in R&D activities in the areas of Healthcare, Energy, Environment and Water, with a focus on Green Process-&-Product Development for therapeutic biomolecules; Marine bacterial green-surfactants-&-polymers; Microbial/microalgal biofuels, value-added products with concomitant flue-gas carbon-dioxide sequestration and waste valorization in Green-Biorefinery models. So far, 21 Ph.D and 39 Masters students received their degrees and 15 Ph.D students are presently working under his supervision. He is now jointly guiding two Ph.D students registered in Melbourne University, Australia and The University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has about 200 publications in international and national journals/books/conference proceedings, and 14 patent applications including one US, one European and one PCT to his credit. Prof. Sen completed 21 sponsored projects and is currently implementing 8 sponsored projects. He published a book ‘Biosurfactants’ (Springer, USA). Prof. Sen has received the (i) Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Award (2018); Distinguished Alumni Award – Jadavpur University (2017); Fulbright Visiting Professor Fellowship (2013–14); Runner-up in National Awards for Technology Innovation in Petrochemicals & Downstream Processing Industries, Government of India (2012) and UKIERI (British Council) Grant for Academic Visits of Universities in London and Northern-Ireland (2007-08). He is the founding member of Biological Engineering Society (India). He is also a life member of IIChE and member of European and Asian Federations of Biotechnology. He has developed collaborations with many national and international Universities/Institutes. Prof. Sen administered as Vice-Chairman and Chairman (GATE & JAM), IIT Kharagpur from 2015-2018.

Prof. Kannan Pakshirajan specializes on biological removal of pollutants (organic/inorganic) and resource recovery from wastes. His areas of research interest are Environmental Biotechnology, Biological removal and recovery of inorganic compounds from wastewaters, Biofuels and other Biotechnological Products: production, process design, kinetics and environmental applications He is currently the Head of the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. Prof. Pakshirajan is a recipient of many awards and honours. These include, besides others, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Award for Young Scientist, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) Young Scientist Award, Hiyoshi Young Leaf Award, Japan, Top Reviewer Award, Bioresource Technology, Elsevier Publications. He has authored and co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed journal publications; produced 12 Ph.Ds and guides 7 Ph.D. students. He is an active life member of renowned professional societies which include Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) and Biotechnology Research Consortium of India (BRSI).

Research Interest

• Thermo-catalytic processes for biomass conversion to biofuels
• Functional chemicals from lignocellulosic and algal biomass
• Valorization of lignin
• Design of novel catalytic materials for biomass conversion and bio-oil upgradation
• Waste plastics conversion (e-waste, industrial and municipal)