Profile
Dr. Meena Krishania Choudhary is a distinguished expert in Biochemical Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. from IIT Delhi in 2013, her M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from MNIT Jaipur in 2009, and her B.Tech in Biotechnology Engineering from Rajasthan University in 2007. For over a decade, her research group has focused on bio-valorization of biomass, bio-processing, industrial biotechnology, food processing, biomanufacturing, scale-ups. which leading to numerous patents, publications in SCI journals and technologies licensing. Dr. Choudhary has received several prestigious awards, including the "Early Career Research Award" from SERB-DST in 2017 and the "Best Research Award" at the Woman Scientist and Entrepreneur Conclave at IISF in 2018. In 2011, she represented India as a "Young Researcher" at the SEE Forum, Japan and was awarded the "Best Project Award" at IIT Delhi’s I2Tech Open House in 2010. Additionally, she was a visiting research fellow at the University of Southampton, UK, in 2011. Dr. Choudhary is a life member of several professional societies, including the Biotech Research Society India (BRSI) and the International Bioprocessing Association (IFIbiop). She has also achieved the prestigious membership of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) in 2024.
Current Focus Areas
Bio-based Chemicals and Enzymes:-
Currently, team's primary research focus revolves around discovering and designing bioprocesses for the production and scaling up of high-value functional biomolecules.
Group have collected potential natural microbial isolates from various environmental conditions and are utilizing them for biochemical processing to valorize biomass and derived product omic profiling.
The biosynthesis of functional molecules, including xylitol, prodigiosin, and biopigments, has been successfully established using abundant biomass sources such as rice straw.
Functional Foods and Smart Protiens:-
Group developed innovative and cost-effective process engineering methods for manufacturing functional food and nutraceutical molecules. These include vegan protein supplements, soluble dietary fibers, cocoa butter substitutes, and pectin derived from a diverse range of agricultural agri-food byproducts.
Through established Chemo-Enzymatic and Hydrothermal processing techniques, we have successfully produced prebiotic biomolecules such as pecto-cellulose and xylooligosaccharides from food by-products.
Carbon Capture and Utilization:-
Group developed sustainable algal biorefinery for carbon capturing and prepration of super food.
Selected Publications
Singh, S., Arya, S.K. & Krishania, M* (2024). Bioprocess optimization for enhanced xylitol synthesis by new isolate Meyerozyma caribbica CP02 using rice straw. Biotechnol Biofuels 17, 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02475-8
Kanika Miglani, Saumya Singh, Devendra Pratap Singh and Meena Krishania* (2023), Sustainable production of prodigiosin from rice straw derived xylose by using isolated Serratia marcescens (CMS 2): statistical optimization, characterization, encapsulation & cost analysis, Sustainable Food Technol., DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3FB00100H
Gurpreet Kaur, Dalveer Kaur, Sushil K.Kansal, Monika Garg, Meena Krishania* (2022), Potential Cocoa Butter Substitute Derived from Mango Seed Kernel, Food Chemistry, 131244
Umesh Singh, Dalveer Kaur, Vibhu Mishra, Meena Krishania (2022) Combinatorial approach to prepare antioxidative protein hydrolysate from corn gluten meal with dairy whey: Preparation, kinetics, nutritional study and cost analysis, LWT, 112437.
Singla G, Singh U, Sangwan R.S., Panesar P.S, Krishania M* (2021) Comparative study of various processes used for removal of bitterness from kinnow pomace and kinnow pulp residue. Food Chemistry 335 (127643), 1-9.