Microbial Biofilms and Cancer - Part B

Dibyajit Lahiri, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, University of Engineering & Management, Kolkata. His research focuses on biofilm formation on human prostheses and its inhibition through phytochemical and nanocompound interventions, with particular interest in the molecular mechanisms by which natural compounds disrupt biofilm integrity. His work also encompasses computational drug development using bioinformatics approaches. Dr. Lahiri has authored over 100 publications, has edited academic volumes in his field, and serves as Associate Editor for multiple international peer-reviewed journals.

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, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at UEM, Kolkata. Her research interests include single molecule biophysics, particularly protein unfolding/refolding and protein aggregation kinetics. She has expertise in biophysical chemistry, photochemistry, and single molecule spectroscopy, and has worked on protein-ligand interactions and in-vitro detection of metal ions. Her postdoctoral work explored peptide aggregation kinetics related to neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, her research focuses on functional amyloids in bacteria and their role in biofilm formation.

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 is Professor in the Department of Basic Science and Humanities at the Institute of Engineering & Management (School of University of Engineering and Management) Kolkata, India. Dr. Bhattacharya obtained her Masters and Doctoral degree in Cellular, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Faculty of Health from York University, Canada. Her post-doctoral research focused on investigating the role of autophagy and mitochondria in maintaining cellular health and impeding diseases. She has also worked on mitochondrial transplantation during her tenure. Bhattacharya has worked as a Teaching Assistant and Guest Lecturer at York University in the Faculty of Health and Professor at Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Canada in Biotechnology, Biomedical Sciences, and Traditional Chinese Medicine Departments. She has published numerous research papers and book chapters in scientific journals from esteemed international publishers. Some of her noteworthy publications are in eminent journals such as Nature Communications, Frontiers in Endocrinology, Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, American Journal of Physiology, Stem Cells, etc. She has also served as reviewer and guest editor in various journals and books of international repute.

Gargi Bhattacharya, MD, is currently working for Ruby General Hospital as a consultant microbiologist and infection control officer and has over 10 years of experience. After obtaining MBBS from West Bengal University of Health Sciences, she earned her MD degree from the School of Tropical Medicine with a University Gold Medal. Driven by a passion for antimicrobial resistance, she actively engages in studies about AMR and has published research on the same.