Human and Animal Microbiome Engineering

Dr. Dhanasekaran Dharumadurai is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University. He has experience in fields of actinobacteriology and mycology. He has 16 years teaching experience and was awarded the UGC-Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the University Grant Commission. His current research focus is microbiome profiling. He has filed two Indian patents, deposited 139 nucleotide sequences and 7 metagenome sequences, bacterial draft genome sequence in GenBank, and 5 bioactive compounds in Pubchem. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, North American Mycology Association, International Society for symbiosis, Mycological Society of India, National Academy of Biological Sciences, Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments, Society of Chemical and Synthetic Biology, Microbiologist Society.

Dr. Priyanka Sarkar completed her PhD in Bioengineering and Technology, jointly from Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) and Gauhati University in 2019. After which, she completed her Post Doctoral training at Asian Healthcare Foundation, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG Hospitals). Since her PhD, her research has delved into the intricate relationship between the gut microbiome (the community of microorganisms residing in our gut) and its impact on human health, particularly focusing on chronic diseases and immune function. She has longstanding interests in decoding the cross-talk between gut microbiome and host health. She has published more than 12 research papers in these areas of research and has contributed to 4 book chapters and 2 review articles in the field of microbiome. She has been serving as a reviewer in many journals. She has been honoured with international and national awards for her research works [DST-SERB Core Research Grant (2021, as a co-PI), Young Scientist Awards (2021)]. She has successfully completed research projects from national funding agencies such as SERB-DST, and guided students for their doctoral and master’s degrees.