Antimicrobials and Drug Resistance

Professor Rajinder S. Ranu received his DVM from Panjab University, India and a M.S. & Ph.D in Microbiology from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia USA. After a Special Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Biochemistry Department at The University of Chicago School of Medicine, he moved to Cambridge as a member of the Harvard University-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Program in Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. After five years, he then moved to Colorado State University as a faculty member (Associate Professor, Professor and Professor Emeritus) of Cell & Molecular Biology/Genetics/Microbiology/Plant Pathology. He has extensively published on Molecular Biology of protein synthesis/translational regulation of gene expression/gene cloning/DNA sequencing/genomics in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems. His publications record represent the best: from eleven papers in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and others in Nature, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Bacteriology, Journal of General of General Microbiology etc. Through citation analysis, The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia has determined that ‘Dr. Ranu’s work is highly cited and important to the concept’; some of his work now forms a part of the text books of Biochemistry/Molecular Biology/Genetics/Cell Biology.

Cell & Molecular Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Plant Pathology

Abd El Aziz Nour has completed his PhD in rumen microbiology 1976 from Alexandria University. He worked at Alexandria University as Demonstrator (1976-1981), Associate Professor (1981-1986), Professor (1986-2007), head of the Department of Animal and Fish Production (1999-2002) and Emeritus professor (2007 till now). As recognized leader in his field, he has an extended list of more than 230 publications in international and local Journals and conferences focus on :- 1- manipulation of rumen fermentation for microbial protein synthesis, 2-evaluation of aquatic microalgae as a natural food for filter feeding fish,3-biofloc technology in intensive tilapia farming, and 4-culture of marine microalgae for biofuel production.

Rumen Microbiology

Dilek Heperkan has completed her Ph.D. in 1986 from Egean University, Turkey. She worked as a researcher for 10 years in TUBITAK, National Scientific and Research Institute. She participated as a member of World Working Party of Mycotoxin (2002-2007). She worked as a visiting scientist in countries such as Belgium, Germany, Netherland and United Kingdom. She also worked for sabbatical in the USA in 2001. She also visited Universite de Vigo, Spain and gave lectures by Erasmus Programme in 2007. She organized a number of national and internatiol meetings. Recently, she organized 23rd International FoodMicro 2012 Congress together with ICFMH. She is currently working as a full time Professor in Istanbul Technical University, Food Engineering Department.

Food Engineering, Food Microbiology

Massimo Ciccozzi is currently associated with Istituto Superiore di Sanit, Italy. His/Her research interests include: Influenza, Virology, public health, Virus, infectious Diseases, and Infection. His/Her international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interest reflects in his publications in various national and international journals.

Influenza, Virology, public health, Virus, infectious Diseases, and Infection

C. A. Guzman graduated in Medicine and become Board Certified in Medical Bacteriology in Argentina. Later, he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery and obtained his Doctorate in Microbiological Sciences (University Genoa, Italy). In 1994 he became Head of the Vaccine Group (German Research Centre for Biotechnology, Germany). In 2005 he was appointed Head of the Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology (HZI), becoming later also APL-Professor at the Medical School and Member of the Centre for Individualized Infection Medicine (Hannover). His work was instrumental for developing new adjuvants and antigen delivery systems, leading to more than 200 publications.

Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology

Joachim Wink studied biology at Frankfurt University and obtained his PhD at the institute of molecular biology in 1985 on “Modifications of the protein pattern of Bacillus subtilis during sporulation”. In the same year he moved to the Höchst AG where he started his business career in the core research functions, department of biotechnology as head of a laboratory. From 1992 to 2012 he continued his worked in the pharmaceutical research of the Höchst AG and its following companies Aventis and Sanofi. During these more than 27 years in the industry he was responsible for the microbial strain collection in natural product research and was specialized in isolation, cultivation and characterization of Actinobacteria and Myxobacteria. In 2004 he completed his habilitation dissertation at the Technische Universität Braunschweig on “The taxonomy of secondary metabolite producing Actinomycetes” in cooperation with the DSMZ. Since 2012 Joachim Wink is doing his research at the HZI and in 2013 he became head of the new work group microbial strain collection, he also holds lectures at the TU Braunschweig in biology of metabolite producing microorganisms.

microbial strain collection

Dr. Kathrin I. Mohr studied biology at the TU Braunschweig. During her postdoctoral time she investigated the “Biodiversity of algae and cyanobacteria in calcifying biofilms” and “in soil crusts from Namibia and South Africa” at the University of Göttingen. Since 2009 she works as a scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, department Microbial Drugs, Braunschweig. Her main focus is set on the isolation of myxobacteria and their screen and enhancement of production of new and known secondary metabolites. She is author and co-author of about 30 papers in reputed journals.

My main focus is set on the detection and increase in production of new bacterial secondary metabolites. From our huge collection of gliding bacteria (particularly myxobacteria; see working group “Microbial Strain Collection”), strains showing bioactivity against Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, fungi or cell lines are selected for further investigation. But also new metabolites which do not show bioactivity in our internal test panel are of interest, because all new compounds are introduced in diverse test systems of numerous co-operation partners. Here formerly inactive substances can turn out to be a “hit”. By nature, production of secondary metabolites is often not sufficient. Higher yields of the desired compounds can be obtained by regulation of biotic and abiotic parameters like carbon or nitrogen sources, oxygen-concentration, temperature or pH etc. Furthermore, various parameters need to be optimized while upscale of the production cultures from shake flasks (100 ml) to fermenter (up to 1000 liter). Another objective of my work is the isolation of new myxobacterial strains. Soil samples from all over the world and from diverse habitats (sampled in consideration of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992) are suitable to isolate myxobacteria. With different isolation techniques, it is possible to isolate new myxobacteria representing novel taxa, which are in particular promising sources of new metabolites.

Patrick Fickers obtained a PhD from University of Liège (Belgium) in 2004. He worked as Post-doc at Polytech’Lille (France) and as a FNRS fellow at the Centre of Protein Engineering (Liege, Belgium). Between 2009 and 2014, he was an Associated Professor at Unversité libre de Bruxelles and the Head of the Biotechnology and Bioprocess Unit. In January 2015, he joined as a Professor the Microbial Processes and Interactions research unit (MiPI) at Gembloux AgroBiotech (Univerity of Liège). He has published 37 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and six book chapters. His researches focus on the development of yeast and bacterial strains by metabolic engineering and on process development in bioreactor for the production of valuable compounds.

Microbial Processes and Interactions

Svetlana Ermolaeva has completed her PhD from Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology where at present she leads a lab. She performed Postdoctoral studies at Complutense University of Madrid and University of Leon. She is a member of Director Board of International Society for Plasma Medicine. She has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and serving as an Editorial Board Member and a reviewer of about 10 repute journals.

Epidemology, Microbiology

Bruca Maria Isabel has completed her PhD from Buenos Aires a University and postdoctoral studies from Abierta Interamericana University School of Medicineand from Catholic University. She is the coordinator in investigation group of Abierta Interamericana University, and Professor in Buenos Aires University and Abierta Interamericana University .She has published more than 14 papers in reputed journals.

Infection, Diagnosis, Treatment

Professor Ludmila Viksna is one of the most experienced experts in Infectology and Hepatology in Latvia. She is Chief Specialist of Infectology in Riga East Clinical University Hospital, Chief Infectologist of Ministry of Health of the Republic of Latvia, Head of the Department of Infectology and Dermatology in Riga Stradins University, Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Sciences and President of Association of Infectologists and Hepatologists of Latvia. Professor L.Viksna is the author of 5 books, more than 300 publications and she holds 15 patents.

Infectious Diseases

Barakat is an Assistant Professor at the school of Pharmacy at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research stands at the multidisciplinary interface of physics, biology and computer science. Barakat’s major focus is on developing and applying state-of-the-art computational drug discovery tools to discover new antiviral and immunotherapeutic drugs. Barakat has made great contributions in understanding the nature and biophysical processes underlying protein–drug, protein–protein and drug off-target interactions and predicting drug-mediated toxicity. He also received numerous awards including the CIHR and AIHS postdoctoral fellowships, the prestigious University of Alberta dissertation award and many distinction awards throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies. Dr. Barakat is also the editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems and serves as a guest reviewer for several journals.

Dr. Barakat’s major focus is on developing and applying state-of-the-art computational drug discovery tools to discover new antiviral and immunotherapeutic drugs.

Patricia Poeta, is Full Professor at UTAD, Portugal. PhD in Veterinary Medicine and specialist in Medical Microbiology. Coordinator of the Research Group of Antibiotic resistance and head of Medical Microbiology Laboratory. Director of several doctoral and masters’ theses. Also responsible for research projects funded by private companies and inter-university projects, teaches International courses and Master’s degree. Has published more than 100 articles in journals from the SCI, book chapters, communications at international scientific meetings. Received 16 awards.

Medical Microbiology

He is a graduate at Biology from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1983), master's at Microbiologia from Universidade de São Paulo (1988) and PhD at Molecula Biology from Rijksuniversiteit Gent (1994). He has experience in Genetics, acting on the following subjects: Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)

Molecular Biology, Fungal Genetics, Microbiology

W. VERSTRAETE is born on April 25, 1946 in Beernem (Belgium). He graduated in 1968 from the Gent University as bio-engineer. He followed a summer course on Soil Microbiology at the Pasteur Institute of Paris. In 1971, he obtained a Ph D degree in the field of microbiology at the Cornell University, Ithaca (USA). Since 1971, he works at the Gent University, first as assistant and since 1979 as professor and head of the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET - Faculty of Bioscience Engineering). His R & D has a central theme: processes mediated by microbial mixed cultures. His team deals with microbial transformations in waters and soils and the gastro-intestinal tract. A variety of biotechnological processes, based on microbial consortia, are subject to R&D at LabMET.

Microbial Ecology and Technology

Alexander Rapoport graduated Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia. The degree of PhD in Biology got at the Latvian Academy of Sciences, degree of DSc in Biology at Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of USSR (Moscow), degree of Dr. hab. biol. at Latvian Council of Science. He is Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Sciences. Alexander Rapoport worked at Institute of Microbiology, Latvian Academy of Science and now works at the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Latvia. He is the Head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology. Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology at University of Latvia. He has published about 210 papers. Main directions of his investigations are linked with physiology, cytology, biochemistry and biotechnology of microorganisms, dehydration and other stress treatments upon microorganisms and especially yeasts. He has revealed the main changes which take place in the cells at their transfer into the state of anhydrobiosis, the main factors which are important for the maintenance of viability of cells, a number of earlier unknown intracellular protective reactions.

Microbiology and Biotechnology

Sevgi Ciftci is the Associate Professor at the the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul University, Turkey. Dr. Sevgi Ciftci obtained her BA in department of the medical biological sciences in Faculty of Medicine from the Dokuz Eylül University at Izmir- Turkey, and her PhD in Microbiology from the Medical Faculty of Istanbul University at Istanbul, in 2003.

Virology, Microbiology

Prof. Dr. Ajit Varma Distinguished Scientist & Professor of Eminence, Amity Institute of Microbial Technology (Amity University Uttar Pradesh) & Vice Chairman, Amity Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation Chair, Faculty Research Committee (FRC), Biosciences & Biotechnology Amity Campus, Sector 125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail: ajitvarma@amity.edu Qualification: M.Sc. (1959), Ph. D. (1964), Allahabad University, Allahabad, India Professional Experience  Microbiologist (Assistant Professor) IARI, New Delhi 1963-1971  Senior Microbiologist (Associate Professor) IARI, New Delhi 1971-1974  Associate Professor, JNU, New Delhi 1975-1984  Professor, JNU, New Delhi 1985-2004  Distinguished Scientist & Professor of Eminence, Amity Institute of Microbial Technology (Amity University), Noida (adjacent to Delhi); since September 2004  Director, Rootonic Pvt Ltd Delhi (since 2012)  Board of Directors, Prathista Industries Limited, Secunderabad (since 2013) Visiting Professorship & Visiting Research Scientist  Technical University, Graz (Austria)  University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen (Germany)  Friedrich Schiller University, Jena (Germany)  Philipps University, Marburg (Germany)  Technical University, Muenchen (Germany)  Kingstan, Jamaica  Max Planck Visiting Professorship (Germany)  Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China)  HelmholtzZentrum, Muenchen (Germany)  Gutenberg University, Mainz (Germany)  CSIC, Madrid (Spain)  University of Dundee (Scotland)  University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)  ICGEB (Italy)  Adjunct Professor, National Mandela University of Science & Tech (Tanzania) Awards & Recognition:  Commonwealth Fellowship (Australia)  National Research Council (Canada)  Alexander von-Humboldt Foundation (Germany)  National Science Foundation (USA)  Indo-Czechoslovakia Exchange Programme (Prague)  DAAD Fellowship (Germany)  Deutsches BMFT Programme, George-August University, Gottingen (Germany)  RAISA Fellowship for Innovative Research in Biotechnology (Italy)  Swiss Federal Research Fellowship (Switzerland)  BP Koirala award (Nepal)  DFG-INSA Fellowship (Indo-Germany)  FAMI Award 2011 (India)  Honorary Diploma, UMF, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2011)  Life time achievement award, Bombay University (2011)  Special felicitation for outstanding research in the field of microbiology, JNU (2012) Number of Ph.D. Degree awarded: 67 Number of D.Sc. Degree awarded: 1 Publications:  Published over 314 research articles, which appeared in National and International, journals of repute and also several major review articles and chapters in books.  Published 73 books in the area of Microbial Technology, published by Academic Press, London, CRC Press, Florida, USA, IDRC, Canada and Springer-Verlag, Germany.  Nominated as Editor-in-Chief by Springer-Verlag (Germany & New York), the leading science-publishing house, to prepare 50 volumes on Soil Biology  Nominated as Editor-in-Chief by IK Internationals to make series of books on Microbial and Biotechnological Research.  Academic Editor - ‘International Journal of Plant & Soil Science’ Memberships:  National Academy of Agriculture Sciences  International Society of Symbiosis, Boston, USA  Indian Science Congress Association  Executive Council, Amity University Uttar Pradesh  University Research Council, Amity University Uttar Pradesh  Academic Council, Amity University Rajasthan  ASSOCHAM Knowledge Millennium Council  ASSOCHAM Expert Committee on Agriculture and Food Processing  ASSOCHAM Expert Committee on S&T and Innovation Vast experience of organizing national and international training workshop/symposium and congress

Soil Biology

Prof. Carlos A. Guzmán (MD, PhD) is head of the department Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and also APL professor at the Hannover Medical School. He studied Medicine at the National University of Rosario and received his specialization in Medical Bacteriology in Argentina. With a scholarship from the Italian Foreign Ministry he then conducted research at the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Genoa, Italy. He acquired his doctorate in Medicine and Surgery, becoming also a doctor in Microbiological Sciences. In 1994 he moved to Germany and became head of the Vaccine Research group at the HZI, formerly GBF. He has been active in the field of Vaccinology since 1989. His work led to the discovery of new adjuvants and the establishment of Salmonella spp. as a delivery system for DNA vaccines and therapeutic molecules. He has published over 160 papers in international journals and is co-inventor of numerous international patents. Prof. Guzmán is part of the editorial board of Infection and Immunity, Microbial Biotechnology, Open Immunology Journal, Current Immunology Reviews, Open Vaccine Journal and Open Microbiology Journal. He is also review editor of Frontiers in Mucosal Immunology, as well as associated editor of Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. Further he is external Lecturer Doctorate in Biotechnology at the University Catania, Italy. In addition he is speaker of the topic “Immune Response” of the program “Infection and Immunity” of the Helmholtz Alliance.

Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology

Patrick Fickers has completed a PhD from Université de Liège (Belgium) and postdoctoral studies from Polytech’ Lille (France). He joined then the Centre of Protein Engineering (Liège, Belgium) as a FNRS fellow. Since 2009, he is an Associated Professor at Unversité libre de Bruxelles and the head of the Biotechnology and Bioprocess Unit. He has published 34 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and 6 book chapters. His researches focus on the development of yeast and bacterial strains by metabolic engineering and on process development in bioreactor for the production of valuable compounds.

Microbial Processes and interactions

Armen Trchounian has completed Ph.D at the age of 25 years from Yerevan State University (YSU), Armenia, and D.Sc. at the age of 33 years from Tbilisi State University, Georgia. He was Professor, Department of Biophysics (1993-2011); from 2011 he is Head, Department of Microbiology & Plants and Microbes Biotechnology, YSU. He was Fulbright Scholar at University of Chicago, USA; Fellows at Chiba University, Japan; University of Reading, UK; University of Virginia, USA; Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; others. He published more than 250 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, several text-books for schools and universities, review-book. He is serving as editor and editorial board member of numerous journals.

Microbiology & Plants and Microbes

Rup Lal is a Professor of Molecular Biology at the Department of Zoology, University of Delhi and currently, he is also the Dean, Examinations. He is the recipient of Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and the DBT Overseas Fellowship. He has over 30 years of research experience highlighting the aspects of the genetics of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) degradation, exploring microbial diversity, genetic manipulation of rifamycin producer Amycolatopsis mediterranei, microbial genome sequencing and metagenome analysis of stressed niches. He has a US patent to his credit for the development of cloning vectors of A. mediterranei strains. He has nearly 175 publications in peer reviewed journals with 3197 ISI citations & h-index 30. He along with his collaborators developed a mutant of Amycolatopsis mediterranei that produces an analogue of rifamycin B. The derivatives of this analogue also known as 24-desmethyl rifampicin and 24- desmethylrifamycin S were found to be effective against MDR strains of Mycobacteria. He is the ASM Ambassador to the Indian Ocean Region. He is also a member of several national and international committees: was a member of the review committee for the ASM-IUSSTF Indo – US Professorship in Microbiology. He is also a Member of International Education Committee (IEC), American society for Microbiology. He is the Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, New Delhi (FNA), Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS) and the Fellow of Association of Microbiologists of India (FAMI).

Zoology

Dunja Bruder studied biotechnology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and passed her diploma in 1996. She already showed a high interest in immunology during her studies and analyzed immune responses against bacterial toxins during her PhD thesis at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (1996-1999). In the following years, Dunja Bruder worked as a postdoc in the junior group “Mucosal Immunity” and established transgenic mouse models for the investigation of autoimmune diseases. During several scientific stays abroad, for example at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, she deepened her immunological knowledge and tightened important cooperations. Her successful research activity was rewarded with the Young Investigator Award of the Society of Mucosal Immunology in 2005.

Since October 2006 Dunja Bruder leads the research group “Immune Regulation” at the HZI and was rewarded as the “Supervisor of the year 2008” for her exemplary education of PhD students. In December 2009 she completed her habilitation thesis for immunology at the Hanover Medical School. Since August 2011 Dunja Bruder has a professorship for infections immunology at the Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg.

immunology

Dr Rita Kumar has completed her PhD in 1984 from Delhi University, India. Currently, she is an Emeritus Scientist in CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology at Delhi, India (CSIR is a premier autonomous industrial R&D organization in India). She has also served as Chairman cum Managing Director of National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) at Delhi, India (NRDC is an enterprise under Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India). She has published more than 60 papers and has to her credit 123 patents (98 granted) in the field of environmental biotechnology. She has commercialized two technologies viz., BODSEED and BOD BIOSENSOR – for quick monitoring of wastewater, which are currently in the market.

Genomics and Integrative Biology

Joachim Wink studied biology at Frankfurt University and obtained his PhD at the institute of molecular biology in 1985 on “Modifications of the protein pattern of Bacillus subtilis during sporulation”. In the same year he moved to the Höchst AG where he started his business career in the core research functions, department of biotechnology as head of a laboratory. From 1992 to 2012 he continued his worked in the pharmaceutical research of the Höchst AG and its following companies Aventis and Sanofi. During these more than 27 years in the industry he was responsible for the microbial strain collection in natural product research and was specialized in isolation, cultivation and characterization of Actinobacteria and Myxobacteria. In 2004 he completed his habilitation dissertation at the Technische Universität Braunschweig on “The taxonomy of secondary metabolite producing Actinomycetes” in cooperation with the DSMZ. Since 2012 Joachim Wink is doing his research at the HZI and in 2013 he became head of the new work group microbial strain collection, he also holds lectures at the TU Braunschweig in biology of metabolite producing microorganisms.

microbial strain collection

Dunja Bruder studied biotechnology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and passed her diploma in 1996. She already showed a high interest in immunology during her studies and analyzed immune responses against bacterial toxins during her PhD thesis at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (1996-1999). In the following years, Dunja Bruder worked as a postdoc in the junior group “Mucosal Immunity” and established transgenic mouse models for the investigation of autoimmune diseases. During several scientific stays abroad, for example at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, she deepened her immunological knowledge and tightened important cooperations. Her successful research activity was rewarded with the Young Investigator Award of the Society of Mucosal Immunology in 2005.

Since October 2006 Dunja Bruder leads the research group “Immune Regulation” at the HZI and was rewarded as the “Supervisor of the year 2008” for her exemplary education of PhD students. In December 2009 she completed her habilitation thesis for immunology at the Hanover Medical School. Since August 2011 Dunja Bruder has a professorship for infections immunology at the Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg.

immunology

Molecular Biology, Fungal Genetics, Microbiology

W. VERSTRAETE is born on April 25, 1946 in Beernem (Belgium). He graduated in 1968 from the Gent University as bio-engineer. He followed a summer course on Soil Microbiology at the Pasteur Institute of Paris. In 1971, he obtained a Ph D degree in the field of microbiology at the Cornell University, Ithaca (USA). Since 1971, he works at the Gent University, first as assistant and since 1979 as professor and head of the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET - Faculty of Bioscience Engineering). His R & D has a central theme: processes mediated by microbial mixed cultures. His team deals with microbial transformations in waters and soils and the gastro-intestinal tract. A variety of biotechnological processes, based on microbial consortia, are subject to R&D at LabMET.

Microbial Ecology and Technology

Armen Trchounian has completed Ph.D at the age of 25 years from Yerevan State University (YSU), Armenia, and D.Sc. at the age of 33 years from Tbilisi State University, Georgia. He was Professor, Department of Biophysics (1993-2011); from 2011 he is Head, Department of Microbiology & Plants and Microbes Biotechnology, YSU. He was Fulbright Scholar at University of Chicago, USA; Fellows at Chiba University, Japan; University of Reading, UK; University of Virginia, USA; Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; others. He published more than 250 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, several text-books for schools and universities, review-book. He is serving as editor and editorial board member of numerous journals.

Microbiology & Plants and Microbes

Alexander Rapoport graduated Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia. The degree of PhD in Biology got at the Latvian Academy of Sciences, degree of DSc in Biology at Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of USSR (Moscow), degree of Dr. hab. biol. at Latvian Council of Science. He is Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Sciences. Alexander Rapoport worked at Institute of Microbiology, Latvian Academy of Science and now works at the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Latvia. He is the Head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology. Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology at University of Latvia. He has published about 210 papers. Main directions of his investigations are linked with physiology, cytology, biochemistry and biotechnology of microorganisms, dehydration and other stress treatments upon microorganisms and especially yeasts. He has revealed the main changes which take place in the cells at their transfer into the state of anhydrobiosis, the main factors which are important for the maintenance of viability of cells, a number of earlier unknown intracellular protective reactions.

Microbiology and Biotechnology

Patrick Fickers has completed a PhD from Université de Liège (Belgium) and postdoctoral studies from Polytech’ Lille (France). He joined then the Centre of Protein Engineering (Liège, Belgium) as a FNRS fellow. Since 2009, he is an Associated Professor at Unversité libre de Bruxelles and the head of the Biotechnology and Bioprocess Unit. He has published 34 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and 6 book chapters. His researches focus on the development of yeast and bacterial strains by metabolic engineering and on process development in bioreactor for the production of valuable compounds.

Microbial Processes and interactions

Microbiology

Microbiology

Rup Lal is a Professor of Molecular Biology at the Department of Zoology, University of Delhi and currently, he is also the Dean, Examinations. He is the recipient of Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and the DBT Overseas Fellowship. He has over 30 years of research experience highlighting the aspects of the genetics of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) degradation, exploring microbial diversity, genetic manipulation of rifamycin producer Amycolatopsis mediterranei, microbial genome sequencing and metagenome analysis of stressed niches. He has a US patent to his credit for the development of cloning vectors of A. mediterranei strains. He has nearly 175 publications in peer reviewed journals with 3197 ISI citations & h-index 30. He along with his collaborators developed a mutant of Amycolatopsis mediterranei that produces an analogue of rifamycin B. The derivatives of this analogue also known as 24-desmethyl rifampicin and 24- desmethylrifamycin S were found to be effective against MDR strains of Mycobacteria. He is the ASM Ambassador to the Indian Ocean Region. He is also a member of several national and international committees: was a member of the review committee for the ASM-IUSSTF Indo – US Professorship in Microbiology. He is also a Member of International Education Committee (IEC), American society for Microbiology. He is the Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, New Delhi (FNA), Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS) and the Fellow of Association of Microbiologists of India (FAMI).

Zoology

Tubercolosis and Lung Diseases

Microbiology

Dr. Ermolaeva has completed her Ph.D from Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology where at present she leads a lab. She performed postdoctoral studies at Complutense University of Madrid and University of Leon. Dr. Ermolaeva is a member of Director Board of International Society for Plasma Medicine. She has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and serving as an editorial board member and a reviewer of about 10 repute journals.

Epidemiology and Microbiology

Epidemiology and Microbiology

Epidemiology and Microbiology

Dr Rita Kumar has completed her PhD in 1984 from Delhi University, India. Currently, she is an Emeritus Scientist in CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology at Delhi, India (CSIR is a premier autonomous industrial R&D organization in India). She has also served as Chairman cum Managing Director of National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) at Delhi, India (NRDC is an enterprise under Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India). She has published more than 60 papers and has to her credit 123 patents (98 granted) in the field of environmental biotechnology. She has commercialized two technologies viz., BODSEED and BOD BIOSENSOR – for quick monitoring of wastewater, which are currently in the market.

Genomics and Integrative Biology

Microbiology

Nutrition and Health

Prof. Carlos A. Guzmán (MD, PhD) is head of the department Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and also APL professor at the Hannover Medical School. He studied Medicine at the National University of Rosario and received his specialization in Medical Bacteriology in Argentina. With a scholarship from the Italian Foreign Ministry he then conducted research at the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Genoa, Italy. He acquired his doctorate in Medicine and Surgery, becoming also a doctor in Microbiological Sciences. In 1994 he moved to Germany and became head of the Vaccine Research group at the HZI, formerly GBF. He has been active in the field of Vaccinology since 1989. His work led to the discovery of new adjuvants and the establishment of Salmonella spp. as a delivery system for DNA vaccines and therapeutic molecules. He has published over 160 papers in international journals and is co-inventor of numerous international patents. Prof. Guzmán is part of the editorial board of Infection and Immunity, Microbial Biotechnology, Open Immunology Journal, Current Immunology Reviews, Open Vaccine Journal and Open Microbiology Journal. He is also review editor of Frontiers in Mucosal Immunology, as well as associated editor of Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. Further he is external Lecturer Doctorate in Biotechnology at the University Catania, Italy. In addition he is speaker of the topic “Immune Response” of the program “Infection and Immunity” of the Helmholtz Alliance.

Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology