Dr. Karan Kumar is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. His research sits at the interface of microbial biotechnology, systems biology, and sustainable biomanufacturing, with a focus on fermentation, genome-scale metabolic modeling, comparative genomics, and data-driven strain design. He is currently involved in the European Innovation Council-funded Pathfinder project HYDROCOW, where he works on computational and systems-level strategies for engineering hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria for sustainable protein production. Dr. Kumar completed his Ph.D. at IIT Guwahati, where his work focused on bioenergy, solventogenic Clostridia, and bioprocess optimization, and he received the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award in the field of Energy Science and Engineering. He has also received several distinctions, including being part of the first batch of Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF), the AcSIR Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Summer Training Fellowship, the Business Games Award at the highly competitive 142nd BASF International Summer Course 2025, the Best Young Scientist Award, and multiple best oral, keynote, and paper awards, along with competitive travel support from SERB ITS and DBT-CTEP. His broader interests include AI-assisted promoter engineering, gas fermentation, and the development of microbial cell factories for green manufacturing. Discover more about his research experiences, publications, awards/recognition, and other