Applications of Metagenomics

Prof. (Dr) Hrudayanath Thatoi, is presently serving as Director, Industrial Biotechnology Research(CIBR), Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar. Previously, Dr Thatoi has also served as Chairman, P.G. Council, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University (MSCBU), Baripada and as Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology, MSCB University. While in MSCBU, Dr Thatoi has also discharged additional responsibilities as the Director, Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Director, Centre for Similipal Studies and Director Self Finance Courses, Prof-In-Charge, R&D and Library, Coordinator, IDP of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University. Dr. Thatoi has also served as a Mangrove Biologist and Sr. Scientist in MS Swaminathan Research foundation, Chennai. Dr Thatoi obtained his M.Sc. M. Phil. and Ph.D. from Utkal University and serving as faculty of Biotechnology since 2004. The teaching and research interest of Dr. Thatoi includes molecular biology, industrial and pharmaceutical biotechnology, and microbiology. Dr. Thatoi has implemented several research projects funded by UGC-DAE Govt. of India, DST Govt. of Odisha and Forest Department, Govt. of Odisha. Till date, Dr. Thatoi is credited with publication of 25 books including two textbooks and more than 326 research papers in national and international journals, proceedings of conferences and book chapters and awarded with two patents. He serves as member of several scientific societies and editorial boards of national and international journals. He is a recipient of Samanta Chandrasekhar Award by DST, Govt. of Odisha, Prof. Harihara Pattanaik Award for Environment Science by Orissa Botanical Society and Fellow of Society of Applied Biotechnology. So far, he has guided 20 Ph.D. scholars and a number of M. Tech, B. Tech and M.Phil. students for their thesis and dissertation works. He has visited Bangkok, Nepal and Malaysia to attend International Conferences on Biodiversity and Biotechnology. Dr. Thatoi is a Functional Area Expert in Ecology and Biodiversity being accredited by QCI, NABET, MoEF, Govt. of India. Dr. Sukanta K. Pradhan is serving as HOD in the Department of Bioinformatics of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT). He obtained his B.Sc(Ag) and M.Sc(Bioinformatics) from OUAT and Ph.D (Biotechnology) from Ravenshaw University. He is also working as the Director, OUAT Data Centre. The teaching and research interest of Dr. Pradhan includes Genomics, Metagenomics, Transcriptomics, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, and Microbiology. He has successfully implemented several research projects funded by DBT Govt. of India, RKVY Govt. of Odisha, DST Govt. of Odisha. Till date, Dr. Pradhan is credited with publication of 58 research papers in reputed national and international journals and 8 book chapters. He serves as member of several scientific societies of national repute. So far, he has guided 01 Ph.D. scholar and 53 M.Sc students for their thesis and dissertation works. He has visited USA and Bangkok to attend International Conferences on Computational Biology. Dr. Upendra Kumar is working as Senior Scientist at ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack (Odisha), India. Meanwhile, he has served as Visiting Scientist at CSIRO, Adelaide, Australia twice (2016 & 2023). His research work is a blend of basic and applied nature, covering major aspects of Microbiology in relation to plant and soil health. Till date he has led several internal and external projects granted by ICAR, RKVY, DST, DBT, NASF etc. with funding amount of more than 15 Cr. He has more than 17 years experience in rice research and published more than 509 articles (journals, books, book chapters, technology bulletins, popular articles, e-publications etc) and also guided more than 15 MSc and PhD students. The cumulative impact factor of his publication is about 267. He has also developed more than 12 technology/product like liquid and carrier-based rice-specific bioinoculants for nutrient, pest and microbial decomposition of rice straw. He has also developed the Azolla-based biofertilizer (sporocarp), livestock feed and microbial-growth medium. He has also constructed liquid biofertilizer production unit at NRRI, Cuttack for the first time. He has developed csaXpert mobile app and characterized the microbial resources in relation to nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification under varying nutrient and climatic conditions in rice-based cropping systems and deposited these microbial cultures in authentic repositories. Through these works, he has been conferred with the Edita David Memorial-2014 (AZRA, Bhubaneswar), Best Scientist Award Twice from ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack (2017 & 2023), AZRA Fellow-2018, Lal Bahadur Shastri Outstanding Young Scientist Award 2020 (ICAR, New Delhi), Nanaji Deshmukh ICAR Award for Outstanding Interdisciplinary Team Research in Agriculture and allied Sciences-2020 (ICAR, New Delhi) and Fellow of Association of Rice Research Workers (ARRW)-2020, SCON recognition Award-2021 and Young Scientist Awards Twice (GAP, 2018 & AZRA, 2022).