Rate My Professor Ashish Bhatnagar

Professor Ashish Bhatnagar serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Microbiology at Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer, having retired from his position as Professor and Head of the Department on April 30, 2026. He earned his B.Sc. in Agriculture from Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur in 1987, M.Sc. in Microbiology as a gold medalist in 1989, and Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1993 from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Bhatnagar completed postdoctoral research as a Research Associate in the Biorefining and Carbon Cycling Program within the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia, Athens, USA. He established Rajasthan's first Department of Microbiology at MDSU, launching the state's inaugural M.Sc. Microbiology program in 1993, and directed the Algae Biofuel & Biomolecules Centre, fostering interdisciplinary research in microbiology, food science, environmental science, economics, and management. Under his leadership, the department advanced microbiological education and research, offering M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs with specializations in medical, environmental, industrial microbiology, and biotechnology.

Bhatnagar's research centers on algal biotechnology, biofuel production from microalgae, bioremediation, wastewater treatment, cyanobacterial ecology, stress physiology, and biopolymers for wound healing. His innovations include low-water demanding cultivation systems for Rajasthan algae and interactive biosorption for fluoride removal. Key publications include "Microalgae cultivation in a wastewater dominated by carpet mill effluents for biofuel applications" (Bioresource Technology, 2010), "Chlorella minutissima—A Promising Fuel Alga for Cultivation in Municipal Wastewaters" (Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 2010), "Interactive biosorption by microalgal biomass as a tool for fluoride removal" (Biotechnology Letters, 2002), and contributions to Earth's Microbial Diversity Catalogue (Nature, 2017). He holds U.S. Patent No. 8,722,389 B1 (2014) for culturing algal mats using fog. Bhatnagar supervised four Ph.D. students, submitted 30 DNA sequences to NCBI, and amassed over 5,900 citations on ResearchGate. Awards encompass the IARI Gold Medal (1989), Aspee Gold Medal (1987), Young Scientist (Bioenergy) Award (2010), third best paper award from International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2013), and multiple best poster awards.