Fundamental Biomaterials

Prof. Sabu Thomas is Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University, and Director of the School of Energy Materials, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is one of India's most renowned scientists in the area of polymer science. After completing his Ph.D. from IIT Kharagpur (1984-1987), he joined MG University as a Lecturer in 1997 and later became its Vice Chancellor. He has taken up a large number of visiting assignments abroad. Under his leadership, the University has been ranked 713th by TIMES, 30th in NIRF and the best university in Kerala. He has supervised 120 Ph.D. students, authored 1,300 publications and edited 150 books with approximately 60,000 citations. He has received Honoris Causa degrees from Russia and France and led numerous research projects in India and abroad. He has been ranked 114th in the list of the world's best scientists and 2nd in India by the Stanford University Ranking in Polymers. He was also elected as a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences. Preetha Balakrishnan is Principal Scientist at ADSO Naturals Private Limited, Banglore, Karnataka, India. Her area of interest is Polymer Science incorporating Nano materials, and topic of research is Starch based nanocomposites at IIUCNN, M.G. University, Kottayam, in the group of Prof. Sabu Thomas. Dr M.S. Sreekala is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Postgraduate Research Department of Chemistry, Sree Sankara College, Kalady, India. Her research interests include polymer composites, biodegradable and green composites, and thermosetting materials. She has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has edited 6 books. Dr. Sreekala received the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, and conducted research at the Institute for Composite Materials, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. She was also awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan, and conducted research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Japan. She has organized many national and international conferences and delivered invited talks at many international conferences within India and abroad.