Muthupandian AshokkumarAssociate Dean, University of Melbourne Professor Muthupandian Ashokkumar (Ashok) is a Physical Chemist who specializes in Sonochemistry, teaches undergraduate and postgraduate Chemistry and is a senior academic staff member of the School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne. He is also one of the Associate Deans (International) in the Faculty of Science.Dr Ashok is a renowned sonochemist who has developed a number of novel techniques to characterize acoustic cavitation bubbles and has made major contributions of applied sonochemistry to the Materials, Food and Dairy industry. His research team has developed a novel ultrasonic processing technology for improving the functional properties of dairy ingredients. Recent research also involves the ultrasonic synthesis of functional nano- and biomaterials that can be used in energy production, environmental remediation and diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. He is the Deputy Director of an Australian Research Council Funded Industry Transformation Research Hub (ITRH; http://foodvaluechain.unimelb.edu.au/#research; Industry Partner: Mondelez International) and leading the Encapsulation project (http://foodvaluechain.unimelb.edu.au/research/ultrasonic-encapsulation). He has received about $ 15 million research grants to support his research work that includes several industry projects. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, an international journal devoted to sonochemistry research with a Journal Impact Factor of 4.8). He has edited/co-edited several books and special issues for journals; published ~340 refereed papers in high impact international journals and books; and delivered over 150 invited/keynote/plenary lectures at international conferences and academic institutions.Dr Ashok has successfully organised 10 national/international scientific conferences/workshops and managed a number of national and international competitive research grants. He has served on a number of University of Melbourne management committees and scientific advisory boards of external scientific organizations. Dr Ashok is the recipient of several prizes, awards and fellowships, including the Grimwade Prize in Industrial Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the RACI since 2007. |
Sergei EreminProfessor, Moscow State University Prof. Sergei A. Eremin is Head of Research Group of Immunoassays, Department of Chemical Enzymology, Faculty of Chemistry, M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU). |
Sebnem HarsaProfessor, Izmir Institute Of Technology Prof. Harsa has been interested Biotechnology and Food Bio processes for 30 years. Her interest in these areas developed at the end of her first degree in Food Engineering, when she went to Reading University, UK to study for her PhD in Food Technology. She was appointed Postdoctoral Fellow in Tokyo University, Japan (1992-1994). After, started working as Ast. Prof. in Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey in 1994 and contributed for the construction of this university. She has become an Associate Prof. in 1995 and later in 2001 appointed as full professor. She has set up the new postgraduate programmes, Biotech & Bio engineering and Food Eng and has been department Head, Vice Dean for many years, finally in 2013 she has completed director positions. She has found her own start-up company and carrying on industrial and academic projects.Her research is supported by the grants from DPT, TUBITAK, British Council, EU and Japanese research and education funds. She has directed appr. 20 national and 5 international projects and more than 7 industrial (2 of them are international) projects. She has published appr. 50 peer reviewed international and appr. 10 national journal articles. Others are 75 international and 40 conference proceedings, 5 international research and 3 other education reports and wrote 3 thesis. Also Editor of 5 international Journals in the area of food engineering & nutrition and food chemistry & nanotechnology.Prof. Harsa has supervised more than 40 MSc and 12 PhD thesis in the area of Biotech&Bioeng, FoodEng&Nutrition, Materials Science&Eng., Chemical Eng and Environmental Eng. She is currently directing academic research projects on nutritional health and food science & engineering and other interdisciplinary subjects. Production of value added bio products such as cheese and yogurt starter cultures; probiotics; prebiotics; preparation and characterization of whey protein, nanotubes and bioactive peptides. Functional food process design, in-vitrodigestion. Food ingredients for malnutrition (phenylketonuria (PKU) disease, celiacdisease, glutenandlactoseintolerance). She has been the consultant of some industrial companies. Functional food ingredients such as starter cultures, protective cultures, sourdough bacteria, probiotics and their proto types are the main products of her company.She has 2 patents pending. |
Rakesh Kumar SharmaDirector, Defence Food Research Laboratory Dr.Rakesh Kumar Sharma is M.Pharm in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Panjab University and Ph.D. from University of Delhi. He also completed a two years Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management from Punjabi University, Patiala. Dr Sharma started his professional carrier in the year 1983 at Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior and over the years worked at Defence Research Laboratory, Tezpur and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi. He is an Elected Fellow of Indian College of Nuclear Medicine, Society of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists and Institution of Chemists (India). He is currently the Director, Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore.Dr. Sharma is a highly innovative, creative, dynamic and dedicated professional with nearly 34 years of scientific and techno-managerial experience and has made significant contributions in New Drugs, Novel Drugs Delivery Systems, Herbal Radioprotectors, Herbal Biothreat Mitigators and Nutraceuticals. He has acclaimed various honours/awards including Young Scientist Award (1993), Laboratory Scientist of the Year Award (2001), INMAS Technology Group Awards for the years 2003, 2004, 2011 & 2015, Chandra Kanta Dandiya Prize in Pharmacology (2004), Dr NN Dutta/Jaipur Prize (2005) of the Indian Pharmacological Society, ICMR International Fellowship award for Senior Biomedical Scientist (2008), AAPS PharmSciTech Outstanding Manuscript Award (2008), Acharya PC Ray Memorial Gold Medal Award (2013) and Dr HAB Parpia Memorial award (2016).He has published 281 papers, of which 147 are in International journals. His professional excellence is reflected through the grants of a number of patents and transfer of 8 technologies to the industries. He has authored a number of books, contributed 49 chapters in books and guided 9 students for the Ph.D. degree. Dr. Sharma is widely traveled, with international stints. |
Nagendra P ShahProfessor, University of Hong Kong Nagendra P. Shah received a BSc from Rajendra Agricultural University, India, MSc from South Dakota State University, USA and Ph.D. from University of Alberta, Canada.He worked at Victoria Univ. Australia from 1991 to Dec. 2011 at various capacities including full Professor (2003-2011) and has been affiliated with University of Hong Kong as a tenured Professor in Food Science and Technology since January 2012.Prof. Shah has a long and intensive research history in probiotics and functional foods that has led to a distinguished international reputation in this area.His publications include 280 research papers, 27 book chapters, 209 conference abstracts and two books, Dairy Products and Quality Control, and Probiotic and Prebiotic Foods: Technology, Stability and Benefits to Human Health. He has also edited “Yogurt in health and disease prevention” which will be published shortly.He has given 156 keynote and invited presentations at international conferences. |
Jasvir SinghRegulatory, Scientific and Government Affairs Leader – South Asia, Dupont Nutrition & Health Dr. Jasvir Singh obtained his Master’s Degree in Microbiology from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, followed by Doctorate fromBiochemical Engineering Research and Process Development Centre, Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. His area of research wasEnzyme Fermentations and Industrial Process Development. |
