Fundamental Biomaterials: Polymers

Sabu Thomas is the chairman at the Trivandrum Engineering Science and Technology Research Park (TrEST Research Park) and the former vice chancellor at the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is also the director at the School of Energy Materials, the School of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and the International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Prof. Thomas is also the former director at the School of Chemical Sciences and the founder of the School of Polymer Science and Technology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He received his Ph. D. in 1987 in Polymer Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India. He has been ranked no.1 in India about the number of publications (most productive scientists). Prof. Thomas’s research group specialized areas of polymers which includes Polymer blends, Fiber filled polymer composites, Particulate-filled polymer composites and their morphological characterization, Ageing and degradation, Pervaporation phenomena, sorption and diffusion, Interpenetrating polymer systems, Recyclability and reuse of waste plastics and rubbers, Elastomer cross-linking, Dual porous nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering, etc. Prof. Thomas’s research group has extensive exchange programs with different industries, research, and academic institutions all over the world and is performing world-class collaborative research in various fields. Professors Centre is equipped with various sophisticated instruments and has established state-of-the-art experimental facilities which cater to the needs of researchers within the country and abroad. His H Index- 133, Google Citations- 86424, Number of Publications- 1300, and Books-160.

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. Sreekala Meyyarappallil Sadasivan is recognized for her research in the field of polymer macro, micro and nanocomposites, polymer foams and their blends. After receiving her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam), she held research positions in the Japan and Germany before joining the Sree Sankara College. Currently she is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at School of Chemical Sciences, director of School of Polymer Science and Technology (SPST) and Joint director of School of Nanoscience and Technology (SNST) and International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IIUCNN), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. The research in Sreekala’s laboratory is focused on development and property improvements of polymer composites for high end automotive, aerospace and structural applications, development of fully biodegradable, green and sustainable polymer composites from natural fibers, biopolymers etc. for industrial application, electronic applications of polymer nanocomposites such as nanogenerators, electromagnetic shielding (EMI) etc., biomedical applications of polymer composites for effective wound healing and development of biofiller entrapped polymer nanocomposites for water remediation. She was ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world (Rising Stars List) according to a subject-by subject study undertaken by a team from Stanford University and Scopus experts for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. She has an h-index of 38 and total citation of 7306. She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Indian Rubber Institute, and was the recipient of JSPS and AvH fellowship, CSIR senior research fellowship and ICS-UNIDO fellowship.