Algal Bioprospecting and Bioprocessing

Dr. Nitin Trivedi is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Biotechnology at Gujarat Biotechnology University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He graduated with a post-graduation degree in Microbiology and obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Science from CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India, in 2015. During his Ph.D., he explored marine microbial enzymes to produce biofuel from seaweeds, followed by designing a biorefinery process to extract value-added products from green seaweed. In 2015, he visited the University of Messina, Italy, as a guest researcher in the Indian-EU collaborative project “Biowalk4biofuels”. Later, he joined DBT ICT CEB, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, as a Postdoctoral fellow (2015-2017) and worked on seaweed growth optimization and sequential extraction of biobased products. Dr. Trivedi succeeded in receiving a prestigious DST INSPIRE Faculty fellowship (2017-2022) from DST (India) and continued working at DBT ICT CEB in the area of Marine Biotechnology. Since 2009, Dr. Trivedi has been working in Marine Biotechnology with a special emphasis on seaweed and marine microbial biotechnology. So far, he has published 30 publications in SCI journals, two patents, and one book. Dr. Trivedi has received several national and international fellowships/awards like DST INSPIRE Faculty by DST, New Delhi, DSKPDF by UGC, New Delhi, CSIR-SRF, New Delhi, ARO PDF in Israel, PDF at Dalhousie University, Canada, Visiting Scientist at the University of Algarve, Portugal, guest researcher at University of Messina, Italy, etc. Since 2017, he has been teaching microbiology and biotechnology subjects in UG and PG courses. He has delivered several national and international talks as an invited speaker. He has also been affiliated as a research advisory committee member/examiner with institutes of national and international importance and associated with around 20 SCI journals as a reviewer. Recently, he has been appointed as an Editorial Board member of the Scientific Reports of Nature publishing group. Dr. Ramkrishna Sen is now serving as a Professor, Department of Bioscience & Biotechnology and Professor-in-charge, Advanced Lab for Plant Genetic Engineering, IIT Kharagpur. He also served as Fulbright Visiting Professor in the Columbia University, New York, USA and as Manager (R&D-Biotech), Cadila Pharma Ltd., Ahmedabad, India. He has been engaged in R&D activities in the areas of Energy, Environment, Water and Healthcare, with a major focus on Green Process & Product Development in Microbial-&-Microalgal Biorefinery models. So far, 32 students including two from foreign Universities have completed their Ph.D under his guidance / joint-guidance. Currently, 14 Ph.D students are working under his guidance/joint-guidance. He has about 270+ publications in international & national journals, books & conference proceedings with about 15150 citations and 62 H-index, and also has 14 patent applications including 3 international patents to his credit. He has published 7 books with renowned publishers. He has completed 40 sponsored & consultancy projects and has 5 on-going projects. Prof. Sen’s name featured in the World Ranking of Top 2% of the Scientists (Stanford University publication, 2020 – 2024). He has also been honored with the Faculty Excellence Award (IIT Kharagpur), Distinguished Alumnus Award (Jadavpur University); Fulbright Visiting Professor Fellowship (USA); Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Project Award (Canada); UKIERI Award for Academic Visits (UK) and National Award for Technology Innovation, Government of India. He served as a joint faculty of P. K. Sinha Center for Bioenergy & Renewables at IIT Kharagpur. Prof. Sen administered as the Head, Department of Biotechnology; Chairperson, School of Bioscience; Chairperson, Central Research Facility (Life Science Division), IIT Kharagpur and also as the Vice-Chairman and Chairman, IIT Kharagpur for two reputed national level examinations, namely, GATE and JAM.

• 1. Algae: A Rich Source for Bioprospecting2. Algal Protein as a Sustainable Meat Alternative3. Innovations in Algal Biopeptides for Therapeutic Use4. Harnessing the Functional Food Potential of Algae5. Natural Algal Pigments for Food and Textile Industries6. Algal Secondary Metabolites in Cosmeceutical and Pharmaceutical Industries7. Composition and Applications of Algal Bioactive Compounds8. Extraction and Functional Characterization of Algal Bioactive Compounds9. Techniques for High-Value Product Recovery in Algal Bioprocessing10. Integrated Valorization Strategies for Algal Biomass: A Biorefinery Approach11. Promoting a Circular Bioeconomy Through Sequential Extraction of Algal Products12. Genetic and Metabolic Engineering to Enhance Synthesis of Algal Metabolites, Proteins, and Lipids13. Algae as a Promising Source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA, DHA, and ALA)14. Algal Oligosaccharides: A Green Elicitor for Sustainable Farming15. Algal Polysaccharides as an Active Ingredient for Edible Films and Coatings16. Algal Polysaccharides as Scaffolds for Drug Delivery17. Algal Polymer-Derived Bio Composites for Sustainable Agriculture18. Algal biopolymers for wound healing and targeted drug delivery19. Recent Developments in Seaweed Polysaccharide Extraction and Industrial Applications20. Algae in Aquaculture and Animal Feed21. Microalgal Biostimulants: Next-Generation Plant Growth Additives22. Greenhouse gases mitigation potentials of macro and microalgae23. Bioprocessing of Algal Biomass from Mariculture and Aquaculture Wastewater into Industrial Products24. Algae in sustainable aviation fuels production25. Scope of algae in space missions as a nutritional source 26. Algal Research across the globe: A Historical and Current Overview27. Algal Startups: Challenges and Successes28. Challenges, Policies, and Future Outlook for Algal Bioprospecting