Navnit Kumar Ramamoorthy

Academic qualification:

1. Ph. D. in Engineering and Technology (DBT-IOCL Univ.-industry consortium JRF, UGC-SRF, CSIR-SRF) – specialization: Bioprocess Engineering and Technology for Biorefinery operations and r-DNA technology.
2. M. Tech. in Bioprocess Engineering (DBT-sponsored student, GATE-top ranker) – Specialization: work related to microbial bio-transformations and Bioprocess engineering. Anna University, Chennai
3. B. Tech. (Merit scholarship from BPCL, India) – Industrial Biotechnology. Anna University, Chennai.

Professional Certifications:

1. Certified in performing intricate reactor designs, 3D CAD, CFD simulations for real-time applications using ANSYS during my tenure at Hindustan Petroleum Corporate R&D Centre, India.
2. Certified in recombinant protein production using yeast-based expression platforms.

Fellowships/merit scholarships awarded:

1. A merit scholarship throughout my B. Tech. course was awarded by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) for emerging as a top performer and distinction scorer in Class X and XII – merit scholarship.
2. Topped the DBT-CBEE (now GAT-B) to be subsequently awarded a merit fellowship throughout the course of my M. Tech.
3. Awarded DBT-JRF, UGC-SRF, CSIR-SRF during the course of my doctoral research.

Academic Awards/honours, Member of Scientific Association, Mentor/Team member of Industrial projects, and Reviewer of Journals:

1. One of the batch toppers during B. Tech – course-completion percentage 80%.
2. Cleared GRE and TOEFL.
3. Awarded the Prime Minister’s cash prize/medal for being one of the top performers during M. Tech – overall CGPA 8.42 on 10.
4. Secured best/first prizes in several poster, paper, and oral presentations during the courses of B. Tech., M. Tech., and Ph.D.
5. Project on “e-plasma-based water sterilization system” chosen for funding in the Indian Innovative Pioneer’s Challenge.
6. Awarded the “Young innovator of the year”, by the forum of International Investors for the year 2019.
7. Awarded the “Young innovator of the year”, by the forum of International Investors for the year 2021.
8. Life-time member of the “Biotechnology Research Society of India”.
9. Active member of the “Mycological Society of India”.
10. Tech. consultant for process designs to IPR-securing, DSP, and CIPP for a few national and International industrial partners.
11. Team member/honorary mentor for ~3–5 collaborative projects of the BIRAC.
12. Active reviewer of most energy and process engineering-related journals of Elsevier, Taylor and Francis group, and Springer Nature, notably: Energy Sources Part-A, Process Biochemistry, International Journal of Green Energy, Biofuels, Current Research in Environmental and Applied Mycology (CREAM).

 Post-Ph.D. job roles and experience (~7 years)

1. Biomakers, Ind. - Application Specialist and Chief Technology Officer (CTO): Offering CRO services related to gene synthesis, cloning, process development for several industrial partners from India, UK, South Africa, Canada, etc. Handled process scale-up from lab-scale baby reactors to ~0.3–0.5 kL pilot-scale reactors to commercial 1-kL–100-kL process designs with improved feed trajectories and optimal titre yields. Securing IP and transferring the developed technologies to the respective industrial partners.
2. UGC-post-doctoral fellow – A Principal Investigator mentored by Prof. Venkateswara Sarma (Central University of Pondicherry), collaborated with academic/research institutes and industrial partners to develop ~12 patented technologies/processes, and was involved in publishing research findings.
3. Hindustan Petroleum Corporate R&D Centre – Post-doctoral Bioprocess engineer: (i) Conceptualizing integrated processes for lab- and pre-pilot-scale gas fermentation to bio-alcohols; (ii) involved in addressing scale-up hassles, adapting various flow-models, heat- and mass-transfer regimes, and feed trajectories using 3D digital twin creation and CFD simulations of the ~3–4-kL bio-gas plant; (iii) involved in the scaled-up production of ~75 tonnes of HP’s proprietary Bioremediation formulation at the ~1.5-kL pilot-plant facility using nutristat feedback loops; (iv) overseeing various unit-operations related to the 1-ton-per-day 2G ethanol plant, various DSPs related to the Bioremediation formulation at the organization’s exclusive process scale-up unit; (v) overseeing the commissioning of a few operational pilot-scale facilities.

Select list of patents/Intellectual property rights (Total - 12)

A select list of the patents/IPRs is being presented here owing to IP restrictions from the respective patent applicants/assignees.

1. A xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for fungal enzyme production (English translation). Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Rakshit, Shovan., Sahadevan, Renganathan. 202023100255. Granted and received intent for licensing.
2. A xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx biorefinery (English translation). Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Vengadesan, Vinoth Kumar., Sadras, Sudha Rani., Sahadevan, Renganathan. 202022107273. Granted and licensing in progress.
3. A multi-gene construct for the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx , and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 2023/02250. Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Kabilan Subash Chandra Bose., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Sadras, Sudha Rani., Vengadesan, Vinoth., Sahadevan, Renganathan. Granted in convention country.
4. A green,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx , alkali-cum-hydrotropic lignocellulosic biomass pre-treatment process. 2023/02627. Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Kabilan Subash Chandra Bose., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Sadras, Sudha Rani., Vengadesan, Vinoth., Sahadevan, Renganathan. Granted in convention country and received intent for licensing. Examination reports being addressed for the Indian filing.
5. A facile, sustainable-throughput process xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for a bio-ethanol to bio-butanol. 2023/04097. Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Sadras, Sudha Rani., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Vengadesan, Vinoth., Rakshit, Shovan., Kabilan Subash Chandra Bose., Sahadevan, Renganathan. Granted and being further worked on for improving cost-efficiency.
6. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx – A web-cum-smartphone application (filed and under examination under Class 42 and Class 9). Developer/Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Navnit Kumar., Vemuri, Venkateswara Sarma., Ahmed, Yunus., Singh, Sukhvinder., Sadras, Sudha Rani., Subash Chandra Bose, Kabilan., Krishnaswamy, Vignesh., Pallam, Revanth Babu., Vengadesan, Vinoth. Assignee: Pondicherry University.

Select list of original research papers (Total - 18)

1. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Pallam, R. B., Sahadevan, R., Sarma, V. V. (2024a). A critical process variable-regulated, parameter-balancing auxostat, performed using disposed COVID-19 personal protective equipment-based substrate mixture, yields sustained and improved endoglucanase titers. Preparative Biochemistry & Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826068.2023.2204479.
2. Ramamoorthy, N.K., Pallam, R.B., Vengadesan, V., Krishnasamy, V., Sadras, S.R., Sahadevan, R., Vemuri, V.S. (2023d). Analyses of challenges faced during the production of amylolytic enzymes and bio-ethanol using left-over cooked-rice, and rice unfit for human consumption. Asian Journal of Mycology. 6 (2). 1–25.
3. Ramamoorthy, N.K., Pallam, R. B., Sahadevan, R., Sarma, V. V. (2023b). Cellulase production from disposed COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) using cyclic fed-batch strategies. Process Biochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2023.02.013.
4. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Vengadesan, V., Pallam, R. B., Sadras, S. R., Sahadeven, R., Sarma, V. V. (2023a). A pilot-scale sustainable biorefinery, integrating mushroom cultivation and in-situ pretreatment-cum-saccharification for ethanol production. Preparative Biochemistry & Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1201/10.1080/10826068.2022.2162922.
5. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Sambavi, T. R., Sahadevan, R. (2019b). A study on Cellulase production from a mixture of lignocellulosic wastes. Process Biochem. 83 148-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PROCBIO.2019.05.006.
6. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Sambavi, T. R., Sahadevan, R. (2019c). Assessment of fed-batch strategies for enhanced cellulase production from a waste lignocellulosic mixture. Biochemical Engineering Journal. 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2019.107387.

Select list of peer-reviewed and edited book chapters (Total - 12)

1. Ramamoorthy, N.K., Pallam, R.B., Rakshit, S., Yazhine, P., Renganathan, S., Sarma V.V. (2024). Efficient valorization of biomass: A perspective on overcoming critical scepticisms surrounding the commissioning of functional 2G bio-refineries. In Sachin Kumar, Suresh Sundaramoorthy, Deepak Kumar & Anuj K Chandel (Eds.), Clean Energy Transition-via-Biomass Resource Utilization. A Way to Mitigate Climate Change. Springer. 
2. Pallam, R.B., Ramamoorthy, N.K., Rakshit, S., Jaiswal, K.K., Sarma V.V. (2024 in-press). Microalgae for the sustainable production of Biohydrogen. In Sachin Kumar, Suresh Sundaramoorthy, Deepak Kumar & Anuj K Chandel (Eds.), Clean Energy Transition-via-Biomass Resource Utilization. A Way to Mitigate Climate Change. Springer (Equal contribution as a first author).
3. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Puja Ghosh, S. Renganathan, Vemuri V. Sarma. (2022a). An Insight into the Applications of Fungi in Ethanol Biorefinery Operations. In S. K. Deshmukh, K. R. Sridhar & S. M. Badalyan (Eds.), Fungal Biotechnology Prospects and Avenues (pp. 1-24). CRC Press, Boca Raton. https://doi.org/10.1201/10.1201/9781003248316-20.
4. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Ghosh, P., Renganathan S., Sarma V. V. (2022b). Bio-processing Approaches for Enzyme-Based ‘Waste Biomass Saccharification. In Pradeep Varma (Ed.), Enzymes in Valorization of Waste (pp. 1- 30). CRC Press, Routledge.
5. Ramamoorthy, N. K., Pallam, R. B., Rakshit, S., Renganathan, S., Sarma, V. V. (2022c). Fungal a-Amylase: Various Sources, Commercial Significance, Bio-Process Challenges, and Recent Advancements Pertaining to its Production. In P. Gehlot & J. Singh (Eds.), Biomolecules of Fungi: Nutraceutical, Pharmaceutical, Industrial and Environmental Protection (pp.161-206). Agrobios Research: An Imprint of Agrobios (India), Jodhpur.
6. Pallam, R.B., Ramamoorthy, N.K., Vijjeswarapu, Samra V.V. (2024 in-press). Unlocking the potential of Microalgae: Biorefinery for Sustainable Biofuels and High-Value Bioproducts. In Krishna Kumar Jaiswal, Amit K Jaiswal (Eds.), Microalgal Biofuels: Biotechnology and Biorefineries. Elsevier. (Equal contribution as a first author).

Editor of books (Total – 3 until now)

Editor of 3 books in progress for Springer Nature, and Elsevier.