Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Functional Genomics and Metabolic Engineering - Tapa dura

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Prof. P. Gunasekaran is a Senior Professor of Microbiology in India. He has 33 years of teaching and research experience in Microbiology, Biotechnology and Genomics. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry (1974) and Master’s Degree in Biology (1976) from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. Subsequently, he obtained his Doctorate Degree in Microbiology (1980) from Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. He started his career as a Lecturer cum Curator in Microbiology at Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1980 and became a Faculty of Madurai Kamaraj University in 1981. Presently, he is serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore.

Prof. P. Gunasekaran has made significant contributions in Industrial Microbiology especially on ethanol fermentation technology and microbial enzyme technology. His research has been focused mainly on Zymomonas mobilis, an ethanol producing bacterium. In addition to the research on Z. mobilis, he has made significant contributions in process optimization and production of various industrial enzymes from different bacterial and fungal sources. He visited several countries worldwide including USA, UK, France, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Hungary to conduct colloborative research programs.

He has introduced a new postgraduate course, M.Sc. Genomics at MKU, for the first time in India, Under the UGC-supported Centre for Excellence in Genomic Sciences (CEGS) programme. He elevated this course to a new hight as Integrated M.Sc.–Ph.D. course in Genomics, for the first time in India with the support of DBT-supported Interdisciplinary Programme of Life Sciences (IPLS). With the support from the UGC, New Delhi he has established Networking Research Centre in Biological Sciences (NRCBS) with State of the Art research laboratory facility which cater the need of the researchers from any time from any where in the country.

He has guided 36 Ph.D students in his career and 4 students are waiting for final viva voce examination. He is presently guiding 8 Ph.D students at MKU. He has published 150 Research articles in National and International Journals with a cumulative imapct foctor of 250 and his reserach articles has been cited 1923 time in various journal artilces with a h-index of 23 and i10 index of 50. In addition, he has contributed 28 book chapters in books published by leading publishers such as Springer. He has presented his research findings in more than 200 National and International conferences. He is serving as the Editor of three International journals such as Applied Biotechnology and Biotechnology (USA), Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology (South Korea) and Indian Journal of Microbiology (India). In addition, he served as the Guest Editor of special issues in leading Indian journals such as Current Science, Journal of Scientific Research, Indian Journal of Biotechnology and Indian Journal of Experimental Biology.

At national level, he has been elected as the President of Biotechnology Research Society of India (BRSI), India, twice consecutively (2011- 13 and 2013-16). He served as the President of Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), India for the year 2008-2009. During his tenure, the AMI had tie-up with international societies such as American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME). The official journal of the AMI, Indian Journal of Microbiology has been published published by Springer. He has chaired and served as a member of several Committee, Councils and Boards of various fundsing agencies. He has organized two International Conferences and more than 25 workshops /summer schools/ winter schools.

He has received several medals, awards and honours in India and Abroad for his immense research contributions. The major recognitions include Outstanding Service Award by, International Board of the American Soceity for Microbiology (ASM) - 2011, One Time Grant Award by UGC - 2011, Alagappa Centenary Excellence Award for Pure and Applied Sciences -2010, Fellow of Tamil Nadu Academy of Sciences (FTNAS) - 2010, 76th Indian Science Congress-Madurai Kamaraj University Eminent Scientist Award (Natural Sciences) - 2009, Life Time Achievement Award, Indian Association of Applied Microbiologists – 2009, Fellow of the National Academy of Biological Sciences (FNABS) – 2008, American Society of Microbiology (ASM) International Professorship – 2007, AMI-Prof.S.R.Vyas Award – 2006, Fellow of Association of Microbiologists of India (FAMI) – 2006, Fellow of Biotechnology Research Society of India (FBRSI) – 2004, Tamil Nadu Scientist Award (TANSA) - 1999, Louis Pasteur Award - 1998, Invited Professor and Divisional Chair of Division of Biological and Health Sciences, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, México, etc.

At the administration side, he occupied several positions such as Coordinator of the School of Biological Sciences, Coordinator of the DST-FIST programme, Coordinator of University with Potential for Excellence, Special Officer (Planning and Development), Member Syndicate (twice), and member in almost all sub-committees of Syndicate including the Finance committee and member of Syndicate committee to look after the university in the absence Vice-chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University. He has been nominated as Member to the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education.

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.