Microbial Biofilms and Cancer - Part B

Dr. Dibyajit Lahiri is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the University of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, India, where he conducts advanced interdisciplinary research in microbiology, biofilms, antimicrobial resistance, and microbial biotechnology. His scholarly work emphasizes understanding the mechanisms of microbial biofilm formation and inhibition, particularly on medically relevant surfaces and environmental substrates, and exploring innovative strategies for combating biofilm-associated antimicrobial resistance.

Dr. Lahiri has authored and co-authored a substantial body of scholarly work, with over 100 publications including high-impact journal articles, book chapters, and reviews. His research portfolio covers topics such as biofilm-mediated degradation of environmental pollutants, novel antibiofilm agents (including nanoscale and natural compounds), and biotechnological applications of microbial systems, with an h-index around 38 reflecting significant citation impact and academic influence.

He has contributed to major scientific discussions on microbial biofilms in diverse contexts, including their roles in chronic infections, environmental microplastic degradation, and biofuel production, demonstrating both fundamental and applied research orientations. His collaborative research outputs also include contributions to antimicrobial peptide studies and microbial electrochemical systems.

David B. Teplow, Ph.D., is a Professor of Neurology, Emeritus, at UCLA and an internationally recognized leader in efforts to understand and treat Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Teplow's group has used a multi-disciplinary approach to determine how neurotoxic peptides, such as the amyloid β-protein (Alzheimer's disease) and α-synuclein (Parkinson’s disease), form neurotoxic structures that kill neurons and to develop the means to block these processes. Dr. Teplow received undergraduate training at UC Berkeley; a Ph.D. from the University of Washington; and was a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech. Before coming to UCLA, Dr. Teplow was a faculty member in the Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Teplow has published >250 peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters, and commentaries, in addition to serving on numerous national and international scientific advisory boards. Dr. Teplow was a founding editor of the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience and Current Chemical Biology, He is Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier serial Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science and is Associate Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease.

Moupriya Nag is presently working as Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, University of Engineering & Management, Kolkata. Her research interests includes single molecule Biophysics of protein unfolding/refolding and protein aggregation kinetics and its mechanism of action especially the amyloid proteins in neurodegenerative disorders. Recently, her research focuses on functional amyloids in bacteria and their relation in forming biofilms. Her work deals with developing novel antimicrobial and anti-biofilm compounds from natural sources including plants, microbes and green synthesized nanoparticles. She has about seven years of teaching experience in Biophysics, Bioinformatics, Bioprocess and Biotechnology, Enzyme Technology, Computing, Molecular Modelling and Drug Design. She has also published many research articles in the peer-reviewed international journals and authored/edited or co-authored/edited numerous books/book chapters. She is also a member of many scientific societies like Indian Biophysical Society and Indian Science Congress Association.

Prof. Vijai Singh is currently serving as Head of the Department of Biosciences, School of Science and Dean (Research & Innovation) at Indrashil University, Rajpur, Mehsana, India. Prior to this, he held the position of Associate Professor in the same department at Indrashil University. He has also served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at the Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar, and in the Department of Biotechnology at the Invertis University, Bareilly, India. Earlier of his career, Prof. Singh worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Synthetic Biology Group at the Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Paris, France and at the School of Energy & Chemical Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea. He earned his Ph.D. in Biotechnology in 2009 from the ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow, India. His doctoral research focused on the development of molecular and immunoassays for the diagnosis of Aeromonas hydrophila. Prof. Singh’s research interests lies in the design and construction of novel biosynthetic pathways for production of medically and industrially important biomolecules. His laboratory is also actively engaged in developing CRISPR-Cas systems for gene knock out, knock in, gene regulation and diagnostic. With over 15 years of research and teaching experience, his areas of expertise include synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, bioinformatics, microbiology, and industrial microbiology. He has an extensive academic record, with over 110 articles, 89 book chapters, 26 books and 3 patents to his credits. Prof. Singh has received number of prestigious awards, including the Bioclues Innovation, Research and Development Award (2023) from the BIOCLUES Society, the Vice Chancellor's Best Research Award (2023) from Indrashil University, and the Agathiyar Chemical Biology Award (2023) from the Society of Chemical and Synthetic Biology. At Indrashil University, he currently serves as chairman of the Board of Study, and is a member of the Academic Council of Indrashil University. He also holds the position of the Member Secretary of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC) at the university. Dr. Singh is actively involved in national and international scientific advisory roles.

Dr. Debasmita Bhattacharya obtained her Masters and Doctoral degree in Cellular, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Faculty of Health from York University. She did her Post-Doctoral fellowship in Dr. David Hood’s lab at York University. At present, her research focusses on the functional outcome of mitochondrial transplantation in stem and progenitor cells. She is also investigating the implications of lysosomal malfunction in cellular model and finding strategies to mitigate it in order to improve health. She has proven expertise in stem cell biology, cellular physiology, cancer biology, mitochondrial biology and exercise physiology. One of her studies entitled “p107 mediated mitochondrial function controls muscle stem cell proliferative fates” has been published in Nature Communications and has been appreciated by eminent scholars in the field. Bhattacharya has disseminated her research through peer reviewed journal articles, as well as poster and oral presentations at top tier academic conferences. She worked as Professor at Humber College, Canada in Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences Department. Currently she is the Professor in the Department of Basic Science and Humanities, Institute of Engineering and Management, University of Engineering and Management, Kolkata

Dr. Gargi Bhattacharya is a Microbiologist with over nine years of post-MD professional experience in clinical microbiology, serology, molecular biology, and infection control. She completed her MBBS from North Bengal Medical College and MD in Microbiology from the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, where she was a Gold Medalist, followed by DNB in Microbiology. She is currently associated with Ruby General Hospital and has previously worked with Ashok Laboratory and Nursing Home and Medinova Diagnostic Services. Her expertise includes NABL-accredited laboratory quality systems and infection control, with specialized training from JIPMER, Puducherry. Her research interests include antimicrobial resistance, bacterial persistence, biofilm-associated infections, and antimicrobial stewardship. She has published research and case reports on multidrug resistance, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus cohnii, anthrax, and urinary tract infections. She is a member of IAMM and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Society, India.