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About

Dr Rajeev K Sukumaran is the activity lead for Biofuel program of the Centre for Biofuels, Microbial Processes and Technology Division, CSIR-NIIST and was the coordinator of PAN-CSIR multi laboratory program on 2G Ethanol. He played the lead technical role in setting up of the 2G ethanol pilot plant at NIIST, which is the first of its kind in India, commissioned in 2012. He had his Masters and PhD in Biotechnology from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Bioinformatics from Bigtec Pvt Ltd Bangalore. He started his career in Bigtec Pvt Ltd as Member Technical, Biotechnology Solutions, where he served as consultant to VMSRF (United Breweries Group R&D) on production of recombinant Human Insulin. He did his Post-Doctoral Studies at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (Now Ichan School of Medicine, Mount Sinai), New York on Molecular Immunology of Type I Diabetes, under Prof. Teodor Brumeanu, and later on at the Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital, Singapore, under Prof. Arfiff Bongso, where the work was on elucidating the molecular reasons for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency. He joined CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in 2004 November and since then, is working on Biomass Conversion to Biofuels, and the facilitating technologies and science for lignocellulose conversion. His current interests are second generation biofuels, cellulase and other biomass hydrolysing enzymes, regulation of cellulase gene expression in filamentous fungi, heterologous protein expression in fungi and enzymes for speciality applications Integrated Biorefinery processes Biomass conversion to ethanol and chemicals through fermentative process Cellulases, Beta glucosidases and other biomass hydrolyzing enzymes Regulation of Cellulase Gene expression in filamentous fungi Heterologous Protein Expression in Filamentous Fungi Enzymes for glycosylation, and esterases for organic synthesis Bioprocess development for enzyme production and other microbial products including process optimizations following the DOE concepts Solid State Fermentation Process Development and Scale up Xenobiotic degradation by bacteria - Implications and Mechanisms

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Skills

Experience

Publication

  • dott image February, 2022

High temperature pretreatment and hydrolysis of cotton stalk for producing sugars for bioethanol production

The aim of this work was to evaluate cotton stalk (waste plant material after harvesting the cotton) as feedstock for bioethanol production. Different pretreatment strategies were tried usin...

  • dott image December, 2020

Sustainable and eco-friendly strategies for shrimp shell valorization

Among the seafood used globally, shellfish consumption is in great demand. The utilization of these shellfish such as prawn/shrimp has opened a new market for the utilization of the shellfis...

  • dott image November, 2019

Rapid degradation of the organophosphate pesticide – Chlorpyrifos by a novel strain of Pseudomonas nitroreducens AR-3

The indiscriminate use of pesticides leads to serious food safety and toxicity issues and threatens the environment and biodiversity. Pseudomonas nitroreducens AR-3 isolated from pesticide c...

  • dott image April, 2018

RETRACTED: Effect of dilute acid pretreatment of wild rice grass (Zizania latifolia) from Loktak Lake for enzymatic hydrolysis

Zizania latifolia commonly known as wild rice grass which is available in huge quantities in Loktak Lake is a major concern as it occupies a large area of the Lake and causing a several env...

  • dott image December, 2017

RETRACTED: Strategies for design of improved biocatalysts for industrial applications

Biocatalysts are creating increased interest among researchers due to their unique properties. Several enzymes are efficiently produced by microorganisms. However, the use of natural enzyme...

  • dott image October, 2017

RETRACTED: Bioflocculation: An alternative strategy for harvesting of microalgae – An overview

Microalgae based research has been extensively progressed for the production of value added products and biofuels. Potential application of microalgae for biofuel is recently gained more at...

  • dott image October, 2017

RETRACTED: Cellulase production through solid-state tray fermentation, and its use for bioethanol from sorghum stover

The production of cellulase by Trichoderma reesei RUT C-30 under solid-state fermentation (SSF) on wheat bran and cellulose was optimized employing a two stage statistical design of experim...

  • dott image August, 2017

Metagenome Analysis: a Powerful Tool for Enzyme Bioprospecting

Microorganisms are found throughout every corner of nature, and vast number of microorganisms is difficult to cultivate by classical microbiological techniques. The advent of metagenomics ha...

  • dott image August, 2016

RETRACTED: Harvesting of microalgal biomass: Efficient method for flocculation through pH modulation

Harvesting of the micro alga Chlorococcum sp. R-AP13 through autoflocculation, chemical flocculants or by change in medium pH was evaluated. Surface charge of algal cells changed in respons...

  • dott image January, 2016

RETRACTED: An evaluation of dilute acid and ammonia fiber explosion pretreatment for cellulosic ethanol production

The challenge associated with cellulosic ethanol production is maximizing sugar yield at low cost. Current research is being focused to develop a pretreatment method to overcome biomass reca...