Latika Bhatia, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Bioinformatics Atal Bihari Vajpayee University Bilaspur, India
Dr. Latika Bhatia is an assistant professor in department of Microbiology and Bioinformatics in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur, C.G., India. She is responsible for academic and administrative responsibilities being member of various committees like academic council, board of studies, coordinator of examination and various others. She has 21 years of teaching experience working in university, teaching graduates and post graduates of microbiology and biotechnology. She did her Ph.D. from ITM University, Gwalior, on Biofuel Technology. She is a recipient of Indian Academy of Sciences - Banglore, Indian National Science Academy - New Delhi, the National Academy of Sciences - Allahabad (IASc-INSA-NASI) Summer Research Fellowship which she availed in Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (I.I.S.E.R), Pune. She has awards and honors in her credit. She has been invited to deliver a technical talk in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS, New Delhi) and in many national and international conferences. She has published more than 30 research articles in peer-reviewed journals of an international repute, 10 book chapters and 03 monographs, 05 books (2 with CRC/ Taylor & Francis), with citation index more than 600. Her primary research interest is to develop the sustainable process for bioconversion of lignocellulosics into renewable energy and biochemicals. Proactive research lead with an entrepreneurial mind-set, she brings hands-on strategic experience in research projects and start-up of piloting to full commercial scale operations. She has also convened and organized more than ten national and internationals conferences, seminars and workshops, funded by various reputed organizations like, DBT, DST, ICMR and CGCOST. She has attended and presented papers in more than 30 conferences, workshops of national and international repute in India. She has successfully completed many consultancy and research projects. Dr. Bhatia is reviewer of PLOS, Sugar Tech (Springer), Springer Nature, Chemical Engineering & Technology (Wiley, Germany), Bioprocess & Biosystems Engineering, Environmental Chemistry Letters and member of national advisory committee of eminent universities. Dr. Bhatia has been a resource person, a keynote speaker and chaired sessions in more than 10 national & international conferences including UGC- HRD short term courses. Dr. Bhatia has developed online certificate course on immunology, in collaboration with Commonwealth Educational Media Center for Asia (CEMCA), available on Web-portal- “e-atalgyansangum”, on UGC’s specified 4 quadrant approaches. Dr. Bhatia is a recipient of Best Teacher Award by Atal Bihari Vajpayee University, for her academic contributions. She is a Convenor of Bilaspur Chapter of Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkatta. She has one German patent to her credit.
Amulya Kotamraju, PhD, School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Ireland
Dr. Amulya Kotamraju is currently working as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Biotechnology at Dublin City University on the € 2.2 million SFI Funded project “Grain-4-Lab”, winner of the Plastics Challenge. Dr. Amulya obtained her PhD in Biological Sciences from Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad, India. Her research over the past 12 years primarily focused on the development of sustainable technologies for resource recovery and production of value added products from sustainable feedstocks to contribute for the circular bio-based economy. She also worked on production of biodegradable composite materials. She worked in multiple EU-India funded projects and was provided funding from the Department of Science and Technology under the Women Scientists A (WOS-A) scheme to independently learn, explore and handle an end-to-end research project on ‘Sustainable bioprocess for the production of high value succinic acid from municipal waste. Dr. Amulya’s research has resulted in 17 publications in SCI journals, 11 review articles and 5 book chapters. She also attended many national and international conferences and presented her scientific work. She was awarded the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Best Ph.D. Thesis Award-2022 by the International Society for Energy Environment and Sustainability (ISEES).
Kiran Bala, PhD, Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, India
Prof. Kiran is currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Biosciences & Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore since October 2023. Prior to this, she held the position of Associate Professor and Assistant Professor from February 2017 at IIT Indore. With a robust academic journey, she began as an INSPIRE Faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore in November 2012, following a stint as a DBT scientist at DAVV, Indore from July 2012 to October 2012. Prof. Bala’s research also focuses on algal biotechnology, bioprocess development, microplastic bioremedition, wastewater treatment & bioremediation, and multifarious biorefinery approaches. She has more than 65 papers in international journals along with 11 book chapters. She has also edited 2 books with Elsevier and Springer each. Her work has impact of 3500+ citations with h-index – 23, i-1- index-47. She has completed several projects from DST and DBT. She is member of BRSI, AMI, INYAS etc. She is recipient of several awards MP SHEROES Award-2022, 75 women in STEAM in India, INSPIRE Faculty award, SERB Early career Researcher, several international travel support for research excahnge and attending conferences. She is reviewer to severaal prestigious journals of Elsevier, Wiley, MDPI, Sringer, Taylor and Francis, etc.
Tonmoy Ghosh, PhD, Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT), Durban University of Technology, South Africa
Dr. Tonmoy Ghosh is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban (IWWT Durban). Dr. Ghosh received his PhD from the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR). Prior to joining IWWT Durban, Dr. Ghosh was a National Post Doctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore. He has also worked at CSIR-Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, India and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India. Dr. Ghosh mainly works in the field of microalgal biotechnology for alternative fuels and niche chemicals. His research interests lie in unravelling the effect of chemical modulators on microalgal and cyanobacterial growth and high-value metabolites. His doctoral work was chiefly concerned with developing analytical applications for phycobiliproteins using their fluorescence as a tool. Till date, Dr. Ghosh has 28 publications in internationally recognized journals with more than 2000 citations and an h-index of 19; he also has 1 book, 4 book chapters and 3 granted international patents to his credit. He is also the life member of various professional organizations such as The Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI) and the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI).
Bikash Kumar, PhD, Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, India
Dr. Bikash Kumar is currently working as a National Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India, on the Rs. 2.6 million DST-SERB project under NPDF Scheme, He received his BSc (Hons-2012) and MSc (Distinction-2014) in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur (A Central University) and Pondicherry Central University respectively. Later, in 2014 he started working as Junior Research Fellow at Bioprocess and Bioenergy Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Central University of Rajasthan, India. In 2015 he enrolled PhD at same laboratory and received his degree in Nov 2021. His area of expertise involves bioprocess development, lignocellulosic biomass valorization, biorefinery and futuristic sustainable energy resources. Post PhD, he worked as Research Associate at Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. His work is focused on development of biomass pretreatment technologies, microbial enzyme production (cellulases, laccase, xylanases) for greener energy and environment. The work has resulted in publications of more than 36+ research articles, review papers and book chapters. He has been acknowledged for the 11-editorial book for CRC press, Elsevier and Springer. His work has attracted significant impact which is evident from 2040+ citations with h-index – 21, i-1- index-27. He is a recipient of awards such as CSIR_SRF(Direct), JNMF-Scholar etc. He is a life member of MSI, BRSI, AMI, and ACCTI. He is recipient of several awards INSA-NASI-SRF, CSIR-SRF, JNMF scholarship, DST-SERB N-PDF, and AMI-Young Scientist Award. He is reviewer to 20+ peer review research journals for Elsevier, Wiley, MDPI, Sringer, Taylor and Francis, etc. Dr. Bikash Kumar is working as Guest Editor in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Review Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry and Frontiers in Energy Research.
