12th International Congress on Microbial Interaction and Applications of Beneficial Microbes July 17-18, 2017 Munich, Germany

Dr. Azizur Rahman is the Research Head/Director of HiGarden Inc. and a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Toronto. He pursues a broad range of research interests that include environmental microbiology, freshwater/marine biology, environment and climate change, indoor ecosystems, biomineralization, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biotechnology and protein biochemistry.

Environmental microbiology, biomineralization, Climate change, Proteomics

Dr Andreas Vilcinskas is the Head of Applied Entomology at University of Giessen and also Project group "Bio-Ressources" at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME).

Insect immunology, chemical ecology and interactions between pest insects and their host plants.

Wolfgang Holzgreve became a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in Germany, did his postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive genetics at the University of California in San Francisco between 1982 and 1984 and became Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Münster. In 1995 he was appointed as Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. From there he was recruited back to Germany to become the Medical Director and Chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Freiburg.

Prof. Holzgreve´s main research has been in the area of prenatal diagnosis and therapy where he has been a strong advocate of Person-centered Medicine. Besides his involvement in the development of invasive techniques such as chorionic villus sampling, an emphasis in research and development over the last 20 years was Non-invasive Prenatal Diagnosis from maternal blood. His research resulted in more than 600 original papers, more than 10 books, Editorial Board memberships of 15 journals and a Hirsch-index of 41. He was Editor-in-chief of the Journal Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy for many years, and currently he is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics as well as the Global Library of Women's Medicine.

K. Kormas received his Bsc (1994) and Phd (1998) from the Biology Dept of the University of Athens, Greece. He worked as a post-doc at the Trondhjem Biological Station, Norway and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. Since March 2015 he is a professor of aquatic microbial ecology at the University of Thessaly, Greece.

His research focuses on the patterns and processes that underpin the distribution and abundance of microorganisms in different habitats of the aquatic environment, including plankton, bentos and symbionts. He has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Bernd Rehm received his MSc and PhD degree (Microbiology) from the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Germany), in 1991 and 1993, respectively. He continued as a postdoc at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Rehm was a research group leader at the Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University of Münster (Germany), where he also completed his Habilitation. In 2003 he was appointed as Associate Professor of Microbiology at Massey University in New Zealand. Since 2005, Dr. Rehm is Full Professor and Chair of Microbiology at the same University. He is Editor in Chief and Editor of Current Proteomics as well as is member of the editorial board of ten scientific journals and sole editor of five books. He has authored over 170 scientific publications attracting >7900 citations resulting in an h-index of 51. More than 30 patents were granted naming him as inventor.

He is the inventing founder of the biotechnology start-up company PolyBatics Ltd which R&D activities he led as Chief Science Officer. Recent studies were focusing on the use of engineered microorganisms to produce functionalized nano-/micro-structures for applications in diagnostics, enzyme immobilisation as well as antigen delivery system.

Maulin P. Shah, currently Chief Scientist & Head – Industrial Waste Water Research Lab, Division of Applied and Environmental Microbiology Lab at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India, received his Ph.D. (2002-2005) in Environmental Microbiology from Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat. He has served as an Assistant Professor at Godhra, Gujarat University in 2001. He is a Microbial Biotechnologist with diverse research interest. A group of research scholars is working under his guidance on the areas ranging from Applied Microbiology, Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation, and Industrial Liquid Waste Management to solid state fermentation. His work has been focused to assess the impact of industrial pollution on microbial diversity of wastewater following cultivation dependent and cultivation independent analysis. His major work involves isolation, screening, identification and Genetic Engineering of high impact of Microbes for the degradation of hazardous materials. He has more than 200 research publication in highly reputed national and international journals. He directs the Research program at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar. He has guided more than 100 Post Graduate students in various disciplines of Life Science. He is an active Editorial Board Member in 149 highly reputed Journal’s in the field of Environmental & Biological Sciences. He was Founder Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Environmental Bioremediation and Biodegradation (2012-2014) as well as Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2012-2014) (Science and Education Publishing, USA). He is also serving as a reviewer in various journals of national and international repute. Recently, he has been awarded as a Young Biotechnologist Medal by Biotechnological Society of Nepal”. He is Associate Editor in BMC Microbiology (Springer Nature), Advisory Board in CLEAN-Soil, Air, Water (Wiley), Editor in Current Pollution Reports (Springer Nature), Editor in Bulletin of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology (Springer Nature), Environmental Technology & Innovation – ELSEVIER

Environmental Microbiology, Biotechnology, Waste Water Research, Modified Ludzack Ettinger Process (MLE), Industrial Microbiology, Algal Biotechnology, Biochemical Engineering, Molecular Microbiology, Environmental Science & Engineering

Dr. Edmond Puca is currently working in University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa” in Tirana at Service of Infectious Disease. He has finished his specialization in Infection Disease at University Hospital Center Mother Teresa in Tirana on May 2008. He is a member of Albanian Society of Infectology. He is an Editorial Board Member of Clinical Microbiology Open Access, Journal of Tropical Diseases and Surgery, Journal of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Research Interests are tropical infection diseases especially hemorrhagic fever and leptospirosis, Clinical Microbiology

M.S. & Ph. D. degrees with distinction •Fulbright Scholar: 1964-1971 •Elected Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology (elected in 1995) •Two times recipient of Environmental Protection Agency’s Star Award •ASM Foundation for Microbiology Lecturer: 1991-1993 •Board Member, Northern Branch of the Society for Industrial Microbiology: 1990-1991 •Review Committee of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) 1992 – • Participant: Department of Energy plan development for Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research Program (NABIR), 1998. • Member (2 years each): Stanford: Recombinant DNA Panel; Biosafety Committee; Human Subjects Panel (IRB) (1984 – 2007) •Elected to the Steering Committee of Stanford Medical School Senate, 2008 – •Chair, Medical School Senate Task Force for Postdoctoral Affairs, 2010

A. C. Matin is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University in Stanford, California. He has made pioneering contributions to microbiology in a number of areas; these include his notable research into the ways in which bacteria like Escherichia coli adapt and survive periods of nutrient starvation. His studies have been important in combating infections and the remediation of wastes.

Dr Mohannad AL-Saghir was born in Irbid, Jordan. He joined Ohio University Zanesville in 2006. He holds a PhD in Biology. He has taught many classes in microbiology and plant biology. His research is centered on Plant Systematics and Evolution, and my past and current work is focused on developing molecular phylogenies of economically important genera that have major crop plants, such as barley, peanut and pistachio.

His research extends to Medical Microbiology and public health. His most recent publication is "Joint spatial time-series epidemiological analysis of malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis infection published in Epidemiology and Infection" in 2016.

Prof. Munch studied biology, chemistry and geology at the University of Strasbourg for his intermediate diploma and agrobiology at Stuttgart-Hohenheim University (diploma). He did his doctorate at the University of Hohenheim in 1980 and his lecturer qualification in soil science in 1990. Not long after that, he also qualified in the subject of biology at TU Braunschweig. In 1991, he became Head of the Institute of Soil Biology at the Federal Agricultural Research Center (FAL) in Braunschweig and a member of the lecturing staff at TU Braunschweig. Since 1996, he has held the position of full professor at the Chair of Soil Ecology at TUM. He is also Director of the Institute of Soil Ecology at Helmholtz Zentrum München.

Prof. Munch’s (b. 1949) research area in soil ecology is functional microbial diversity in soil. The extremely complex and multifaceted communities present in soil are only being fully analysed now thanks to developments in genomics, metabolomics and proteomics. The aim of his research is to gain an understanding of how to control and make increased use of selected microbial functions.

Professor in the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi. Currently teaching the course work subjects related Microbial Biotechnology to the Ph.D students of CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) registered with Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi. Earlier (1991-1992) taught the following subjects viz. Mycology and Plant Pathology, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Anatomy and Environmental Biology to the Post-Graduate students (M.Sc. Botany) of PSGVP Mandal’s Science College, Shahada, Maharashtra (then affiliated to Poona University, Poona) for one year and one month.

Utilization of endophytic microorganisms and their bioactive metabolites associated with the rice plant grown in acidic soils and their application in improved paddy cultivation in acidic soils. Extraction, purification and characterization of bioactive metabolites from bacterial strains with special emphasis on plant growth promoting endophytic organisms. Structural elucidation of promising bioactive metabolites. Utilization of bioactive metabolites with currently using drugs for synergic and enhanced control of diseases with special reference to the diseases caused by Candia species. Isolation of microbial strains with capability of producing industrially important enzymes like cellulase, pectinase, protease and lipase and their application in extraction of active ingredients from botanicals. Screening of microorganisms with ability of producing multiple enzymes and their exploitation of active ingredients isolation from botanicals. Evaluation of the antimicrobial properties of nanoparticles and ceramic compounds with commercial importance. Bioconversion of organic compounds to drug or their intermediate compounds through microbial strains and/or their bioactive metabolites.

K. Kormas received his Bsc (1994) and Phd (1998) from the Biology Dept of the University of Athens, Greece. He worked as a post-doc at the Trondhjem Biological Station, Norway and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. Since March 2015 he is a professor of aquatic microbial ecology at the University of Thessaly, Greece.

His research focuses on the patterns and processes that underpin the distribution and abundance of microorganisms in different habitats of the aquatic environment, including plankton, bentos and symbionts. He has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals