Surajit Das is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Orissa, India since 2009. Earlier he served at Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology (Microbiology) from Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India. He has been the awardee of Endeavour Research Fellowship of Australian Government for carrying out Postdoctoral research at University of Tasmania on marine microbial technology. He has multiple research interests with core research program on marine microbiology. He is currently conducting research as the group leader of Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Ecology (LEnME) on biofilm based bioremediation of PAHs and heavy metals by marine bacteria, metagenomic approach for drug discovery from marine microorganisms, nanoparticle-based drug delivery and bioremediation; and the metagenomic approach for exploring the diversity of catabolic gene and immunoglobulins in the Indian Major Carps, with the help of research grants from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India. Recognizing his work, National Environmental Science Academy, New Delhi had conferred 2007 Junior Scientist of the year award on marine microbial diversity. He is the recipient of Young Scientist Award in Environmental Microbiology from Association of Microbiologists of India in 2009. Dr. Das is also the recipient of Ramasamy Padayatchiar Endowment Merit Award given by Government of Tamil Nadu for the year 2002-2003 from Annamalai University. He is the member of IUCN Commission of Ecosystem Management (CEM), South Asia and life member of the Association of Microbiologists of India, Indian Science Congress Association, National Academy of Biological Sciences and National Environmental Science Academy, New Delhi. He is also the member of the International Association for Ecology. He is the reviewer of many scientific journals published by reputed publishers. He has written 4 books and authored more than 50 research publications in leading national and international journals on different aspects of microbiology.Hirak Ranjan Dash completed his Ph.D. from Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He did his M.Sc. Microbiology from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. During his research at Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Ecology (LEnME), he worked on the mercury bioremediation potential of marine bacteria isolated from Bay of Bengal, Odisha, India. His research interests include molecular microbiology, microbial bioremediation, marine microbiology, microbial phylogeny, genetic manipulation of bacterial systems and microbial diversity. He has developed a number of microbial techniques for assessment of mercury pollution in marine environments. Discovery of a novel approach of mercury resistance i.e. intracellular biosorption in marine bacteria has been reported by him. He has successfully constructed a transgenic marine bacterium for enhanced utilization in mercury removal by simultaneous mercury volatilization and sequestration. He has also worked in the field of genotyping and antibiotic resistance mechanism of pathogenic Vibrio and Staphylococcus spp. He has written 1 book and published 18 research papers, 7 book chapters and 10 conference proceedings in his credit.
