MARINE FUNGI

Kandikere R. Sridhar is an Adjunct Professor (Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, India) and a Visiting Professor at NITTE (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, India. His research areas are the Diversity and Ecology of Fungi of the Western Ghats and maritime habitats. He was an NSERC fellow and visiting professor at Mount Allison University, Canada; the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research at UFZ and Martin Luther University, Germany; and the Centre of Biology, University of Minho, Portugal. He is a recipient of the Dr. Shome Memorial Award (2004), Vice President (2013), President (2018) of the Mycological Society of India (IMSI). He is a Fellow of the Indian Mycological Society, Kolkata (2014), Distinguished Asian Mycologist (2015), Outstanding Leader in Education and Research, Association of Agricultural Technology, Bangkok (2016), and Fellow of the Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, India (2023). He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of MSI (2019) and the Association of Fungal Biologists (AFB), India (2025). He has mentored 25 PhD theses, 5 MPhil theses, and 25 MSc projects (mycology, food science, and myriapodology). He was a UGC-BSR Faculty Fellow, India (2014−2017) and in the top 2% of scientists in the field of mycology (2020−2025). He has published over 600 research papers, edited 22 books, and reviewed over 200 research articles, 25 project proposals, 15 book proposals, and he has evaluated 25 PhD theses (Australia, India, Mauritius, and Thailand).Sunil K. Deshmukh is a Scientific Advisor to Greenvention Biotech, Uruli Kanchan, Pune, India, and AGPharm Bioinnovations LLP, Patiala, Punjab, India. He is a veteran industrial mycologist who spent a substantial part of his career in drug discovery at Hoechst Marion Roussel Limited [now Sanofi India Ltd.], Mumbai, and Piramal Enterprises Limited, Mumbai. He has also served at the TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre, New Delhi, and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Deakin University, Australia. He has to his credit 8 patents, 158 publications and 28 books on various aspects of fungi and natural products of microbial origin. He is the president of the Association of Fungal Biologists (AFB) and a past president of the Mycological Society of India (MSI). Dr. Deshmukh is the Managing Editor of Mycological Spectrum, the official journal of the Association of Fungal Biologists. He has approximately four decades of research experience dealing with bioactives from fungi, including keratinophilic fungi. He has approximately four decades of research experience in getting bioactives from fungi and various aspects of keratinophilic fungi.

• Preface. Part 1: Agricultural and Nutritional Applications 1. Marine Fungi as a Source of Bioactive Compounds for Use in Agriculture. 2. Using Zoosporic Fungi and Fungus-Like Organisms in Aquaculture. 3. Pigments from Marine Fungi: A Sustainable Approach for Food Applications Part 2: Industrial Applications 4. Marine Fungal Pigments: A Promising Source of Bioactive Hues for Industrial Applications. 5. Marine Fungal Hydrophobins and their Applications. 6. Biosurfactants from Marine Fungi: Recovery and Applications. 7. Marine Lichens: A Treasure Trove of Bioactive and Biotechnological Potential in Marine Fungal Symbiosis. 8. The Untapped Potential of Arctic and Antarctica Fungi Part 3: Bioremediation 9. Advances in Bioremediation Using Marine Fungi. 10. Marine Fungi in Bioremediation for a Sustainable Ecosystem. 11. Marine Fungal Potential for the Bioremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metals. 12. Potential Utilization of Deep-sea Marine Fungi in the Bioremediation of Crude Oil Spills in the Ocean. 13. Bioremediation of Textile Dyes by Marine-Derived Fungi. Part 4: Future Directions 14. Applications of Deepsea Mycobiota: An Untapped Resource of Blue Biotechnology. 15. Geomycology of Marine Environments: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives. 16. Role of Synthetic Biology in Marine Fungi.