Ankur Patwardhan holds a doctorate in Environmental Sciences. His current research projects focus on recovery, including ex-situ and bioprospecting of threatened plant taxa from Western Ghats of India, one of the 34 global biodiversity hot-spots. It includes quantification and mapping of plant resources of Western Ghats, besides documenting traditional knowledge and community conservation practices. He also undertakes Ecological Assessments projects and Biodiversity Management Plans. In honorary capacities, he guides research activities at RANWA (www.ranwa.org) and is on the editorial board of African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology.

(1) Selected as a member of Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board.
(2) Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change (MoEFCC) has entrusted the responsibility as a Chairman of High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC) for Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani Ecosensitive zone.

Sonali Shinde completed her Masters in microbiology. She was associated with several research projects in IBB, NCCS and URDIP. She has sound knowledge of basic microbiology, molecular tools, research methodologies and procedures of patenting an invention. She has her expertise in Molecular Modeling, Docking, Molecular Simulation and metabolic network construction to find the drug target. Results obtained by her are presented in various national and international conferences and are also published in international scientific journals of repute. Her research interests are natural product chemistry and exploring the microbial diversity. She is a member of Jaivik Shastram blog which explores day to day research in an around world and several opportunities important for a life science student.

Teaching professional with research experience. Doctorate in Microbiology with 2 yrs of postdoc experience. Hands on experience in yeast molecular biology, protein purification and characterization techniques and scale-up /process optimization for metal enriched yeast production. Have taught Masters and Bachelor students from multiple disciplines Microbiology, Biotechnology, Biodiversity and Optometry topics associated with Basic Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Immunology.