Biographical note

Prof. Mahendra Rai is a UGC Basic Science Research Faculty Fellow and former Head of the Department of Biotechnology at Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, India. He is currently a senior visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Federal University of Piaui (UFPI), Brazil. His areas of expertise include microbial biotechnology and nanobiotechnology, focusing on the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles using fungi and their applications as nanoantimicrobials against pathogenic microbes. His research is interdisciplinary, integrating microbial biotechnology with nanotechnology. Professor Rai has received several prestigious awards, including the Father T.A. Mathias Award from the All India Association for Christian Higher Education and the Medini Award from the Government of India. He has participated in multiple international collaborations and has held visiting positions at various institutions, including the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Debrecen University (Hungary), and Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland). Dr. Indarchand R. Gupta completed his Masters in the subject of Biotechnology in the year 2004, and Ph.D. in the year 2020 under the supervision of Professor Mahendra Rai at the Department of Biotechnology, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati, India. Presently he is working as Assistant Professor at Government Institute of Science, Aurangabad, India. His area of interest is nano-toxicology and animal cell culture. His study is mainly focused on in vitro cytotoxicity assessment of silver nanoparticles on different animal cell models. He has published over 35 research articles and book chapters. For his research work he has been awarded by ‘ASIO 2016 International Toxicologist Travel Award’ by Association of Scientists of Indian Origin, a regional chapter of Society of Toxicology, USA.