Neelam Amit Kungwani Editor

Dr. Surajit Das is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India since 2009. He received his Ph.D. in 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 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, nanoparticle-based drug delivery and nano-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 Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Dr. Neelam Amit Kungwani completed her PhD from the Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India, and is currently working as Research Coordinator at Paediatric Associates, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. She completed her M.Sc. in biotechnology from the School of Biotechnology, Guru Ghasidas University Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India. During her PhD, she served as a visiting research scholar in one of the prestigious organizations in Chennai: Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, BARC, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in intellectual property and rights. She has worked as a Senior Innovation Fellow at National Innovation Foundation, India, where she extensively worked on the innovation related to human health. Earlier, she served as Biotechnology Faculty at the Government Science College, affiliated to Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Her research interest includes bacterial pathogenesis, microbial biofilms, bioremediation, quorum sensing, functional genomics, phytomedicines, and marine drugs. She has also worked in the field of ocean acidification and impact of climate changes on bacterial DNA repair system. She has published 25 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has authored 9 book chapters and 12 conference proceedings.