About PI
Dr. Smita Srivastava is a Professor in the Dept. of Biotechnology at IIT Madras, Chennai, India. She is also the faculty-in-Charge of Bioincubator at Research Park, IIT Madras. She has a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering followed by M.S (Research) and PhD in Biochemical Engineering. Her research group’s focus at IIT Madras is on modern biotechnology, rationally integrating bioprocess and cellular engineering principles to maximize the yield and productivity of high value metabolites (like phytochemicals) from microbial and plant cell based production platforms for commercial applications. Her research contributions in this niche area include 30 peer reviewed first/corresponding author international journal publications, 5 invited book chapters, 1 editorial, 8 patent applications (4 granted) and several invited talks in different international/national conferences & symposiums including invited lectures in Industrial forums. She has guided 4 Post-doc (2 completed + 2 ongoing) , 16 PhD (6 completed + 10 ongoing), 2 MS (1 completed + 1 ongoing), ~18 dual degree and postgraduate students.
1. Recommended for the DAAD (INDO/GERMAN) Scholarship programme during M.S (Research) Degree program at IIT Delhi in 2002. However, did not avail the fellowship.
2. Best poster award, CHEMCON-2003, Bhubaneswar, India, 2003.
3. Acknowledged as a distinguished student of the Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology at IIT Delhi in I2 Tech-2005 event held at IIT Delhi, 2005.
4. Fellowship award, International conference, APaCPA-2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2007.
5. Foreign travel grant by Ministry of Science and Technology (Department of Biotechnology) to attend APaCPA-2007 conference in Malaysia. June 17-21.
6. Best Research paper award, International Conference, BIOTECH-2011 (Advances in Biotechnology), Singapore, 2011.
7. Session Chair, International conference BIOTECH 2011, Singapore, February 28-March 1, 2011.
8. Invited talk and Session Moderator, EPS Montreal International Renewable Energy Forum 2011, Montreal, Canada, August 15-16, 2011.
9. Travel grant award by Barwale’s Foundation, Hyderabad, India to attend an international Conference NHBT-2011 in Trivandrum, India. November 21-24, 2011.
10. Rashtriya Gaurav Award by Indian International Friendship Society (IIFS) in recognition of being a young achiever, during the annual ceremony held in New Delhi on May 4, 2012.
11. Invited talk in International conference, New Horizons in Biotechnology (NHBT-2015), Thiruvananthapuram , November 22-25, 2015.
12. Invited speaker, Bioprocessing India-2015, Chennai, December 17-19, 2015.
13. Invited speaker, Session Chair, Bioprocessing India-2016, Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, India. December 15-17, 2016.
14. Short lectutre, 3rd International Conference on Natural Products Utilization: from Plants to Pharmacy Shelf (ICNPU-2017), Plovdiv, Bulgaria, October 16-22, 2017.
15. Invited Speaker, Bioprocessing India-2017, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati, India. December 9-11, 2017.
16. Invited Speaker, Bioprocessing India-2018, Delhi, India. December 16-18, 2018.
17. Invited Speaker, International Conference on Traditional Medicine, Phytochemistry, and Medicinal Plants (TMedPM-2018), Japan, October 15-17, 2018.
18. Invited speaker, 4th International Conference on Natural Products Utilization: from Plants to Pharmacy Shelf (ICNPU-2019), Albena, Bulgaria, May 29 - 01 June 2019.
19. Invited Speaker, symposium on Endophytes and their applications in Agriculture, GKVK campus, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, September 24-26 2019.
20. Convenor, Biological Engineering Society Conference (BESCON-2019), Chennai, October 18-19 2019.
21. Selected by the Institute leadership to be a part of the Symposium on Imagining India at 2047 held during March 7-9, 2022 through Innovation in partnership with Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Govt of India to evolve a Vision 2047 for India by being a member of the NUCLEUS and CELL body for Healthcare.
22. Selected for the WLI- Women Leading IIT program organized by IIT Madras and Mckinsey & Co and GLOW, 2022.
23. Convenor and Speaker, AYURTECH CME Workshop and IITM-AYUTECH Lecture Series, IIT Madras, June 20 – 25, 2022.
24. Presented ‘The Camptothecin technology’ at IInvenTiv All IIT R&D research fair, IIT Delhi, 14 -15 October, 2022.
25. Invited Speaker, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and IMSc60, The Institute of Mathematics (IMSc) Chennai, November 2022.
26. Invited Speaker, International Conference on Biotechnology for Sustainable Bioresources and Bioeconomy (BSBB-2022) at IITG, December 2022
27. Outstanding Women Researcher award as part of Venus International Women Awards 2023.
28. Received CSR Changemaker Award 2023.
29. Invited Speaker, Webinar on fermentation technology invited by department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, April 2023.
30. Speaker, Hands on training workshop on fermentation assisted biomanufacturing, Organised by IITM Bioincubator & Ticel Bio Park, July 2023
31. Featured by India Today as one among 10 award-winning women professors from IIT Madras for their remarkable achievements, June 2023.
1. Life-time and Executive committee membership- Biological Engineering Society (BESI)
2. Life time member of The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA)
3. Life time associate member of India Institute of Chemical Engineers (IICHE)
4. Associate member of The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)
5. Life time member of Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI)
6. Fellow member of International society of Biotechnology (F.I.S.B.T)
7. Editorial board member of Journal on Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (JBio.),GSTF, Singapore
8. Editorial board member in Research Journal of Biotechnology by ISBT
9. Working committee member of Bioprocessing India
10. Executive core member of Biological Engineering Society(BES)
11. Guest editor for the issue on “Developing High-Yielding Plant Cell Bio-factories for High-Value Low-Volume Phytochemicals” in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science
12. Review Editor for journal, Frontiers in Plant Sciences
13. Advisory Board Member for AFOB (Asian Federation Of Biotechnology) from India for the year 2024-2026
14. Associate faculty for School of Sustainability, IITM