Dr. Hirak Ranjan Dash is an Assistant Professor of Forensic Biotechnology at the National Forensic Sciences University, Delhi Campus, India. He obtained his PhD degree in Life Science from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. Previously, he served as a DNA expert at Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhya Pradesh, India. His research interests include forensic microbiology, microbial phylogeny, forensic DNA analysis, genetic markers, and next generation sequencing. He has published 50 research papers and 9 books. He has previously received a research fellowship from the Indian Academy of Science. He is a pioneer in India working on NGS-based forensic DNA analysis. He is a life member of the Association of Microbiologists of India, International Society of Forensic Geneticists, and Asian Federation of Biotechnologists.