Biographical note

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, NewDelhi. 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 three books and authored more than 40 research publications in leading national and international journals on different aspects of microbiology.

Hirak Ranjan Dash is a Senior Research Fellow at Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Ecology (LEnME), Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India. He did his M. Sc. Microbiology (2010) from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Currently, he is continuing his research on diversity and genetic aspects of mercury resistant marine bacteria for enhanced bioremediation of mercury. He has also worked in the field of antibiotic resistance and genotyping of pathogenic Vibrio and Staphylococcus spp. During his research work, he has isolated many potent mercury resistant marine bacteria fromBay of Bengal, Odisha and utilised in mercury bioremediation. A number of microbiological technique has also been developed by him for monitoring the level of mercury pollution in the marine environment. A novel mechanism of mercury resistance i.e. by intracellular biosorption was reported by him in the marine bacterial isolates. He has constructed transgenic marine bacteria possessing both mercury biosorption and volatilization capability for utilization in mercury bioremediation. He has published 14 research papers, 7 book chapters and 10 conference proceedings in his credit.