Sesan Abiodun Aransiola is a PhD holder in Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. He earned his first degree (B.Tech) and Master's Degree (M.Tech) from the same department in 2009 and 2014 respectively. He has demonstrated his research expertise in the production of vermicasts from vermicoposting (Vermitechnology) of organic wastes to assist plants in the remediation of soil polluted with heavy metals. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Department of Microbiology, University of Abuja, Nigeria. His area of interest is Environmental Microbiology with research areas in phytoremediation, vermicomposting, biosorption and bioremediation of contaminated soil environment. He is an award-winning researcher and has authored more than 70 publications including book chapters, research and review articles of good international repute with high impact factor. He has co-edited scientific books of global interest which include microbial biotechnology for bioenergy (Elsevier). Ecological interplays in microbial enzymology, vermitechnology: economic,environmental and agricultural sustainability, prospects for soil regeneration and its impact on environmental protection (Springer). Microbial biofilms - applications and control (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group) with many more in the process. Also, he has worked to the rank of an assistant chief scientific officer at Bioresources Development Centre, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Nigeria where he was involved in the uses of vinasse (a by-product of ethanol) as bio-fertilizer to reclaim polluted soil for agricultural purposes. Dr. Aransiola is a member of Nigerian Society for Microbiology and American Society for Microbiology among others. Oluwafemi Adebayo Oyewole, PhD, earned his BTech (1999-2004) and MTech (2009-2010) Degrees in Microbiology, from Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria. He earned his PhD in Environmental Microbiology (2016) from the University of Portsmouth, UK. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria. His current roles include teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students and research supervision in the areas of Environmental, Productive and Applied Microbiology. He has been involved in several administrative responsibilities within the university. He is also engaging in community development activities and professional consultancy services outside of the university. He has authored more than 100 research publications, won some research grants, has 3 patents from his research findings and is a member of some professional associations. Naga Raju Maddela earned his MSc (1996-1998) and PhD (2012) in Microbiology from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapuramu, India. During his doctoral program in the area of Environmental Microbiology, he investigated the effects of industrial effluents/insecticides on soil microorganisms and their biological activities and he is working as Faculty in Microbiology since 1998, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students. He worked on Prometeo Investigator (fellowship received from SENESCYT) at Universidad Estatal Amazónica, Ecuador during 2013-15, received his Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016-2018) from Sun Yat-sen University, China. He also received external funding from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation in 2017, internal funding from Universidad Técnica de Manabí in 2020. He participated in national / international conferences, and presented research data in China, Cuba, Ecuador, India and Singapore. Currently, he is working as a Full Professor at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Portoviejo, Ecuador. He has been actively publishing scientific articles, books (authored and edited) and chapters since 2007. As of now, he has published 60 articles, 10 books and 40 book chapters. Udeme Joshua Josiah Ijah, PhD, earned his B.Tech (1984) and M.Tech (1988) in Applied Microbiology from the Rivers State University of Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria and PhD (1993) in Microbiology with specialization in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. During his doctoral program, he investigated the Microbiology of Crude Oil Degradation in Soil, with specific focus on the effects of oil spills on soil physicochemical properties, microbial ecology, rates of crude oil biodegradation and bioremediation of crude oil polluted soil. He has worked as a faculty member and Adjunct Professor in several universities where he has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students and graduated 54 MSc/MTech and 21 PhD. He has received internal funding and internal sponsorship, and worked in the area of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, participated in several national and international conferences. He is former sub-Dean, School of Science and Science Education, former Head of Department of Microbiology, and currently working as Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State, Nigeria. His current areas of research are: The role of microorganisms in mitigating climate change; bioremediation of microplastics in aquatic environment using microbial biofilm; and microbial products for environmental sustainability, energy and water security. He has presented several conference papers and published 11 chapters, 5 proceedings and 105 research papers in peer-reviewed journals. Bangeppagari Manjunatha, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Zebrafish Drug Screening Center, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to Be University), Kolar, Karnataka, India. He earned his M.Sc. (2006) and Ph.D. (2012) degrees from the Department of Zoology, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India. During 2008-2012, he worked as a Junior and Senior Research Fellow in the prestigious UGC Sponsored Program for Meritorious Students in Science (RFSMS), Government of India. He later joined the Biology Institute of Shandong Academy of Sciences, P.R. China in 2012 and worked as Post-doctoral Fellow until 2014. He has successfully handled one major research project (PROMETEO) funded by SENESCYT, Republic of Ecuador, South America and worked as a Principal Investigator at University of the Armed Forces-ESPE; and served as an Assistant Professor in the same University until December 2016. He also worked as a KRF-Brain Pool Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea from 2017 to 2021. He used zebrafish as an experimental disease model and made a significant contribution to the fields of environmental toxicology, ecotoxicology and public health research in general from postdoctoral experience. Especially the effects of nanomaterials, including pristine graphene, graphene oxide, PM2.5 particles, agro pesticides, Chinese herbal compounds and cosmetic agents such as hair dye and benzyl alcohol. He also conducted in vivo fish developmental and cardiovascular studies, and experienced high resolution of confocal imaging, X-micro CT, histopathology, TEM and SEM analysis, Biochemical, Hematological and Enzymological Techniques. During his research, he handled different experimental animals such as zebrafish, major carps, brine shrimp, rats and guinea pigs. As an ECR, he has already published >80 papers in National and International journals and 3 eBooks (Total number of citations: 836, H-index: 16; i10-index: 26), and participated/presented at 42 national and international seminars/conferences and workshops.
