Prof. Mahendra Rai is a UGC Basic Science Research Faculty Fellow and former Head of the Department of Biotechnology at Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, India. He is currently a senior visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Federal University of Piaui (UFPI), Brazil. His areas of expertise include microbial biotechnology and nanobiotechnology, focusing on the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles using fungi and their applications as nanoantimicrobials against pathogenic microbes. His research is interdisciplinary, integrating microbial biotechnology with nanotechnology. Professor Rai has received several prestigious awards, including the Father T.A. Mathias Award from the All India Association for Christian Higher Education and the Medini Award from the Government of India. He has participated in multiple international collaborations and has held visiting positions at various institutions, including the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Debrecen University (Hungary), and Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland).
Dr. Avinash P. Ingle is currently working as a Research Scientist (Ramanujan Fellow) at the Biotechnology Centre, Department of Agricultural Botany, at Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University, in Maharashtra, India. He completed his doctoral degree at SGB Amravati University, working as a Research Scientist at the same institution from 2013 to 2016, before being awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship (FAPESP) at the Department of Biotechnology, Engineering School of Lorena, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, for three years. Dr. Ingle has edited several books with various international publishers, 65 book chapters, and over 90 research publications in international, peer-reviewed journals. His research interests include nanobiotechnology, biofuel technology, and sustainable agriculture.