Venue: Seminar Hall
Speaker : Dr Rajesh Sani
Topic : Biocommodity Engineering of Extremophilic Deep Biosphere Microbes
About Speaker: Dr. Sani is a Professor in the Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Applied Biological Sciences at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, South Dakota, USA. His research expertise includes Extremophilic Bioprocessing, Biocatalysis, Biomaterials, Gas to Liquid Fuels, Genome Editing of Extremophiles, Homo/Heterologous Expression of Genes, and Metabolic Engineering. Over the past 12 years, he has been the PI or co-PI on over $18.39 million in funded research. Several of his accomplishments in research and advising include: i) Postdocs supervised (9); ii) Graduate students supervised (MS students, 13 and PhD, 13), and iii) Undergraduate students and K12 teachers supervised (over 70). He has one patent, seven invention disclosures, and published over 72 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals and have contributed in over 18 book chapters. He has edited four books and one proceedings for Springer International Publishing AG. In addition, Dr. Sani has been in proposal panel for the Federal Agencies i) National Science Foundation, ii) U.S. Army Research Office, iii) Department of Energy, and iv) U.S. Geological Survey. He also serves the Industrial Microbiology profession as “Biocatalysis Program Committee Member” of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), technical session chair at the Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and SIMB, and an associate editor.
Abstract of the talk: This talk will describe the limitations in exiting lignocellulose conversion technologies and possible ways to overcome those limitations using extremophiles and their enzymes. The influence of high temperatures on various existing lignocellulose conversion processes and those that are under development, including extremophilic consolidated bioprocess will be discussed. Integrated decentralized thermophilic biofuel production employing lignocellulolytic and fermentative thermophiles in a single step consolidated process will also be discussed. Roles of deep-biosphere extremophilic microbes in generating fuels and value-added products from organic waste in space will also be presented. In addition, this talk will introduce the current status of BioGTL (Biogas to Liquid Fuel) technology in bioenergy sectors.
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