Dr. Balu Alagar VENMATHI MARAN, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., D. Agr., is currently serving as an Associate Professor at the Organisation for Marine Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. from Hiroshima University, Japan. Dr. Maran brings over 30 years of academic and research experience in marine science and aquaculture. He has also made significant contributions to research on fish immune responses to parasitic infections, tetrodotoxin analysis in parasites, jellyfish biodiversity, harmful jellyfish toxins, and the extraction and application of jellyfish-derived collagen in cosmetic and biomedical fields. Currently, Dr. Maran is engaged in an interdisciplinary marine science and technology project that utilises artificial intelligence for biological imaging and data analysis, aiming to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of marine species identification and ecological monitoring. He has authored over 130 peer-reviewed research articles, contributed 20 book chapters, and edited four academic books. Dr. Maran is actively involved in the academic community as an Editor for PeerJ (Q1) and Frontiers in Marine Science, and as a Guest Editor for various scientific journals.