Pankaj Chowdhary is the Founder and President of the Society for Green Environment (SGE) (www.sgeindia.org), New Delhi, India. Currently, he is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research. He received his post-graduation degree (2011) in Biotechnology from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Afterward, he obtained his PhD (2018) in the area of Microbiology from the Department of Microbiology at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. During his PhD, his work mainly focused on the role of ligninolytic enzyme-producing bacterial strains in the decoloration and degradation of coloring compounds from distillery wastewater. His main research areas are Microbial Biotechnology, Biodegradation and Bioremediation of Environmental Contaminants in Industrial Wastewaters, Metagenomics, Biofuels, and Bioenergy production. He has edited nine (09) international books. Besides, he has also authored two (02) international books. He has published more than seventy (70) research publications including research/review papers and two book reviews in national and international peer reviewed journals of high impact factor published by Springer, Elsevier, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Taylor & Francis Group, and Frontiers. He has also published many national and international book chapters and magazine articles on the biodegradation and bioremediation of industrial pollutants. He has presented many posters/papers relevant to his research areas at national and international conferences. He has also served as a potential reviewer for various national and international journals in his respective areas of research. He is a life member of the “Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI)”, the “Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) Kolkata, India”, and “The Biotech Research Society, India (BRSI)”.

Abhay Raj was born in 1978 and he obtained his MSc (2001) and PhD (2009) in Environmental Science from Lucknow University, Uttar Pradesh, India. His major research work during his PhD focused on the bacterial degradation of lignin from paper mill effluents. Currently, he is a Senior Scientist in Environmental Microbiology Division at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow. His work involves the development of green technology through effluent treatment for sustainable environment and health. The major areas of his research work include Bioremediation, Toxicity and Genotoxicity Assessment, Metagenomics, Microbial Biotechnology, and Proteomics. He has published more than 60 research/review papers in peer reviewed SCI journals published by Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, and Frontiers. He has also published national and international book chapters and magazine articles. Also, he has presented his research work in India as well as abroad. He has also been serving as an active reviewer of various reputed national and international journals related to his field. He has successfully completed a major research project funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science & Technology (DST) & Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He has supervised many PhD and postgraduate students. He is a life member of scientific organizations like the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), and the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI).