Bioenergy and Resource Management Centre Cranfield University, UK

Dr Vinod Kumar Lecturer in Bioenergy/Biomass Systems

23rd May 2017

Education

Date of Graduation

Degree (Major) Institute

July 2010 PhD (Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology)

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

May 2002 M.Sc (Chemistry) Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

May 2000 B.Sc (Honors) Chemistry Hindu College, University of Delhi, India

Ø  Completed Doctoral thesis entitled “Studies on Production and Application of Plant Growth Promoting Root Endophyte Piriformospora indica” under the supervision of Prof. V.S. Bisaria and Dr. Vikram Sahai (retired) at the Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

Objectives accomplished: ü  Investigation of the nutritional and environmental conditions to maximize the growth and sporulation

of the fungus P. indica in shake flask.

ü  To determine an optimal cultivation strategy to maximize the growth and sporulation of P. indica in a 14 L bioreactor.

ü  Agronomical application of P. indica through inorganic carrier-based formulations.

ü  To study the effect of culture filtrate and cell extract of P. indica as well as its co- cultivation with hairy root culture of L. album on the production of podophyllotoxin.

Doctoral research

Ø  Post-Doctoral Fellow (December 2013 – December 2014) Polytech Clermont Ferrand, University of Blaise Pascal, France; Research Topic - Valorization of volatile fatty acids through production of single cell oil using oleaginous yeast strains.

ü An effective two-stage fed-batch strategy for valorization of volatile fatty acids into microbial lipids by the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and Cryptococcus curvatus was developed.

ü The study also demonstrated the feasibility of simultaneous biovalorization of volatile fatty acids and glycerol, two cheap industrial by-products.

Post Doctoral Research (France)

Post Doctoral Research (South Korea)

Ø  Research Professor (September-November 2013); Post-Doctoral Researcher (August 2011-August 2013) School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Pusan National University, South Korea; Research Topic - Enhanced Production of Biochemicals through Metabolic Engineering.

ü  A new Klebsiella pneumoniae J2B strain was isolated which seems to be more promising for industrial applications than the well studied K. pneumoniae DSMZ2026 strain.

ü  This strain was developed using metabolic engineering tools to enhance the production of three commercially important compounds, 3-hydroxypropionic acid , 1,3-propanediol and 2,3-butanediol from glycerol.

Ø  Research Fellow (December 2013 – December 2014) at School of Biosciences, Bioenergy and Brewing Science Building, University of Nottingham, UK; Project Title - Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass.

ü  I was involved in designing robust Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains for efficient bioethanol fermentations. Using QTL studies, we identified the genes conferring resistance against acetic acid and osmotic stress.

Research Fellow (United Kingdom)

Ø  Marie Curie Fellow (January 2015 – December 2016) Synthetic Biology Research Centre at University of Nottingham, UK; Project Title - Development of a Sustainable Route to the Important Platform Chemical 3-Hydroxypropanoic Acid Using Synthetic Biology and a Geobacillus Chassis.

ü  Metabolic Engineering of thermophilic organism Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius for biological production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid from sugars

Marie Curie Fellow (United Kingdom)

8

Writing Research Proposals/Grants

ü  Succinate Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass Using a Thermophilic Chassis.

ü  Improved Butanol production by Clostridium pasteurianum from Waste Biodiesel Glycerol.

ü Metabolic and Process Engineering Approaches for an Efficient and High Level Biological Production of 1,3-Propanediol from Glycerol.

ü  Development of a Sustainable Route to the Important Platform Chemical 3-

Hydroxypropanoic Acid using Synthetic Biology and a Geobacillus Chassis.

ü  Electrifying and Engineering Clostridium pasteurianum as the First e-Microbial Chassis for High-yield Bioproduction System.

Skills, Expertise & Experience

Ø  More than 14 years of research experience including my PhD and 6 year Post-Doctoral experience

Ø  Exposed to various areas of Biotechnology; Biochemical Engineering, Microbial Fermentations, Plant cell Technology, Agricultural Biotechnology, Metabolic Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology.

Ø  Worked on different biological systems; fungal, yeast and bacterial. Ø  Carried out research in multidimensional projects aiming at “Development of low cost, energy efficient

and sustainable Bioprocesses for production of Biofertilizers, Biopesticides, Biofuels and Biochemicals”.

Ø  Publications: 19 Research articles, 2 review articles, 2 Book chapters; Google scholar Citations- 661, h-index: 15, i10-index: 16; ResearchGate – RG Score - 27.05, Impact Points- 75.69.

Ø  Taught following subjects to school, undergraduate and postgraduate students in India and UK: Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bioprocess Engineering, Microbial Fermentations, and Biofuel Production by Thermophiles.

Future Plans

Ø  Development of Integrated Biorefineries Ø  Agro-industrial wastes as feedstock

Ø  Application of Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology tools

Ø  Sustainable production of biofuels and biochemicals through second generation biorefinery

THANK YOU