Vision
South Dakota Mines will collaborate with Montana State University (MSU) and University of Oklahoma (OU) to fill a large knowledge gaps in the field of methane regulation i extreme environments prevalent in our jurisdictions (as well as in many others in the U.S). To fill this knowledge gap, the BuG ReMeDEE (pronounced as bug remedy) consortium will coalesce Genome to Phenome (GtP) expertise from three institutions into an integrated research and education effort, focusing on biogeochemical mechanisms of methane oxidation in extreme environments. This consortium provides a collaborative infrastructure that enables the three institutions to use the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), SD and Yellowstone National Park (YNP) as testbeds for extreme environments in deep biosphere and thermal systems, respectively.
Rajesh Sani, PhD is leading the research efforts at South Dakota Mines and he is also the PI of BuG ReMeDEE initiative.
In
addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate sciences and bioengineering
courses at South Dakota Mines, Dr. Sani is conducting,
supporting, and overseeing a significant amount of fundamental and applied
research in the areas of bioenergy (alternative fuels) and bioprospecting of
novel extremophilic microorganisms from different environments. His research
expertise includes Extremophilic Bioprocessing, Genome Editing of
Extremophiles, Homo/Heterologous Expression of Genes, and Metabolic
Engineering. Several of his accomplishments in research and advising
include: i) Postdocs supervised (8); ii) Graduate students supervised (MS
students, 12 and PhD, 14), and iii) Undergraduate students and K12 teachers supervised
(over 60). He is having one patent, five invention disclosures, and published
over 70 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals and have
contributed in over 15 book chapters, to his credit. Dr. Sani also edited five books and one
proceedings for Springer International Publishing AG. In addition, he is in proposal panel for the several Federal Agencies. During his tenure
as a faculty member, he has taken the leadership roles in research, teaching, and
service activities, and received several laurels both at national and
international levels.
Email: Rajesh Sani
URL: http://webpages.sdsmt.edu/~rsani/