Biopolymers: Recent Updates, Challenges and Opportunities

Dr. Ashok Kumar Nadda is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan China. He also worked as a Brain Pool researcher/ Assistant Professor at Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Ashok has a keen interest in microbial enzymes, biocatalysis, CO2 conversion, biomass degradation, biofuel synthesis, and bioremediation. Dr. Ashok has published more than 160 scientific contributions in the form of research articles, review, books, book chapters and others at several platforms in various journals of international repute. The research output includes 100 research articles, 30 book chapters and 20 books. He is the main series editor of “Microbial Biotechnology for environment, energy and health” publishing the booksunder Taylor and Francis, CRC Press USA. He is also a member of the editorial board and reviewer committee of the various journals of international repute.
Dr. Swati Sharma is working as Assistant professor at University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University Mohali, India. She has completed her PhD. from University Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia. She also worked as a visiting researcher in the college of life and environmental sciences at Konkuk University, Seoul South Korea. Dr. Sharma has completed her masters (M.Sc.) from Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni Solan H.P. India. She has also worked as a program co-coordinator at the Himalayan action research center Dehradun and Senior research fellow at India agricultural research institute in 2013-2014. Dr. Sharma has published her research papers in reputed international journals. Presently, Dr. Sharma's research is in the field of bioplastics, hydrogels, keratin nano-fibers and nano-particles, biodegradable polymers and polymers with antioxidant and anticancer activities and sponges. Dr. Swati has published 25 research papers in various internationally reputed journals, 9 books, and a couple of book chapters.
Prof. Dr. Rajeev Bhat is the ERA-Chair holder in VALORTECH (Food By-products Valorization Technologies) at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, EU. He is an internationally recognized researcher engaged in the field of ‘Sustainable Food Production’ and ‘Food Security.’ Prof. Bhat has more than two decades of international experience gained by working in India, South Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Fiji Islands and now in Estonia. To date, he has published nearly 250 research articles in ISI based journals, as refereed book chapters, etc. He has edited 09 books, authored 01 book, and presently editing 06 books (with leading publishers like Elsevier, Wiley Blackwell and Springer). He is on the editorial board ofleading international journals, and has been a scientific committee member and invited speaker in various seminars, workshops and conferences in the field of agri-food technology. His name now figures in the World’s top 2% of scientists in the field of Food Science & Technology as per the survey done by Stanford University-based researchers. He has completed several sponsored research and consultancy projects with funding received from various agencies. At the international level, he also contributes as a panel of experts reviewing various research funding proposals. He has a scholarly H-index of 50 in Google scholar and an H-index of 43 in the Scopus database. Earlier, he had held visiting faculty positions in many of the higher education (academic and research) institutions.  Prof. Bhat  is also a recipient of several prestigious international awards and recognitions conferred by various institutions of higher learning and research establishments.