Auteur: Pravindra Kumar

Dr. Pravindra Kumar (born March 1, 1973) is a structural biologist who has made original contributions in the fields of Bioremediation, Structure based drug design, Protein engineering and X-ray crystallography. He has played an active role in the research projects on biodegradation of toxic aromatic compounds and structural biology in drug resistance in India and abroad. He has published more than 65 research papers in leading international journals. He has been awarded the Dr. S.V. Talker Gold Medal as a best post graduate award of Biophysics from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (2001). He has also been awarded the fellowship from CSIR (1999) and young scientist BOYSCAST award in 2008. Dr. Kumar obtained his Masters in Physics in first Division from the CCS University of Meerut. He started his research career in 1996 as a graduate student at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He obtained his Ph. D degree in 2001 working on three dimensional structure determination of Lacto ferric. During his Ph.D., he worked as a senior demonstrator for three years in the Dept. of Biophysics, AIIMS. Soon after obtaining his Ph. D degree, he worked about four and half years (2001-2005) as a Post Doctoral Research fellow in the USA at Purdue University, West Lafayette-Indiana. After his return to India he worked as an Assistant Professor (2005-2012) and an Associate Professor (2012-15) in the Department of Biotechnology at I.I.T. Roorkee, where he established a Macromolecular Crystallographic Unit for structure based drug discovery. After establishing his own research group in the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee, Dr. Kumar and his group has made significant contribution towards the degradation of persisted pollutants using structure and functional studies of biphenyl degrading pathway enzymes. He has worked on plant therapeutic proteins and also developing inhibitors against some of the drug target proteins, which could be potential drugs. His publications have more than 740 citations with H-index of 14. Dr. Bhola Ram Gurjar is a Professor in Civil (Environmental Engineering) and Head of Centre for Transportation Systems (CTRANS) at India »s premier technological institution, Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Roorkee. He holds a Ph D in the area of Environmental Risk Analysis from India »s premier technological institution I.I.T. Delhi followed by Postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute in Mainz (Germany). He has about 25 years » progressive professional experience in industry, teaching, training, research, and consultancy. Professor Gurjar has (co)authored / (co)edited nine books and 140 publications in total. He has received several awards and fellowships including the prestigious Advanced Postdoctoral Research Fellowship of the Max Planck Society (Germany) (2002-2005) and UKIERI Grant to visit Univ. of Surrey (U.K.) (Dec. 2012-Jan. 2013). Based on his outstanding research work at the MPIC – Mainz, the Scientific Steering Committee of the global change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START), Washington, D.C., U.S.A., honored him with the 2004 START Young Scientist Award. He has received the American Society of Civil Engineers » State of the Art of Civil Engineering Award for the year 2014 on the co-edited book « Climate Change Modeling, Mitigation, and Adaptation ». He is also co-recipient of The New abstain Yard Jung Bahadur Memorial Medal (best research paper award) from Environmental Engineering Division of The Institution of Engineers (India), Kolkata, for the year 1995-96. The Institution of Engineers (India) »s National Design and Research Forum (NDRF) has awarded him the National Design Award for Environmental Engineering 2011. Prof. Gurjar is fellow and life member of several professional bodies and organizations and serves them actively. For example, Prof. Gurjar has served the Roorkee Local Centre of The Institution of Engineers (India) as Honorary Secretary and Chairman from 2010-2012 and 2012-2014, respectively. Recently, recognizing his significant contribution in the discipline of Environmental Engineering, the Environmental Division Board of the Institution of Engineers (India) has conferred on him the Award of Eminent Environmental Engineer during the Inaugural Session of 31st National Convention of Environmental Engineers held on 6th November, 2015 in Chandigarh, India. He has also received The Institution of Engineers (India) Uttarakhand State Centre »s Eminent Engineers Award – 2014. The award was conferred by the Hon. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 3rd February 2016 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Dr. Gurjar is among the leading academics and researchers who have worked extensively in the area of environmental science and engineering specially focused on air and water pollution, and environmental quality and health risk assessment, which is reflected in his several highly cited research papers published on these themes.