Rajeev SukumaranDr Rajeev Sukumaran is senior scientist at the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, in Trivandrum, India. He took his Masters and PhD in Biotechnology from Cochin University of Science and Technology (1993-2000). He hd post doctoral trainings in molecular immunology and stem cell biology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York and at the National University Hospital, Singapore respectively, and had worked in an industry on recombinant human insulin production. He joined CSIR-NIIST in November 2004 and since then has been working on enzymes for biomass to biofuel conversion and bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. Currently he is the activity leader for the Biofuels program of the Centre for Biofuels at NIIST, and had been the program coordinator for NIIST's major laboratory program on biofuels. He played a leading role in setting up the Centre for Biofuel's lignocellulosic ethanol pilot plant at NIIST. Currently his main research interests include-Developing enzymes for biomass conversion to sugars and ethanol, Glucose tolerant ß-glucosidases from fungi, and developing molecular methods for heterologous gene expression in fungi. He has authored reports for national policy making bodies and for international agencies, on biofuels including the International Energy Agency. He is the academic editor of "British Biotechnology Journal" and is a member of the editorial board of "Conference Papers in Energy". He has authored 56 publications in International Journals and 5 book chapters. He has also served as member of different task forces including Biotech Task Force for the State Council of Science, Technology and Environment, of Kerala state, India and is a member of the panel of reviewers ( for R & D projects) for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. Read More Read Less