Govil, Tanvi

• Ph.D., University of Manchester, U.K.

• M.S., Microbiology, Panjab University, India

• B.S., Microbiology, Panjab University, India

The biomedical sector is increasingly focused on biologically sourced, safe, and sustainable alternatives to traditional therapeutics and materials. However, innovation remains limited by the overuse of conventional microbial hosts and known molecular scaffolds. Extremophiles, microorganisms adapted to extreme conditions, offer untapped potential to produce novel, stable, and functionally diverse bioactive compounds. Despite this promise, they are underrepresented in drug and biomaterial pipelines due to a lack of scalable discovery-to- application workflows. My research addresses this gap. At South Dakota Mines, I lead the CellFe Lab, where we maintain a curated library of ~500 extremophilic strains collected from geothermal springs, saline lakes, and underground mines. These unique microbes exhibit traits such as stress resilience, pigment production, and biofilm formation, ideal for generating next-generation antimicrobials, wound healing agents, anticoagulants, and anti-aging biomaterials. As an early-career faculty member with expertise in microbiology, microbial biomanufacturing, and chemical-biological engineering, I currently lead NSF-funded projects focused on sustainable biomaterials. This new direction presents an exciting opportunity to extend that work into biomedical applications, aligning closely with NIH and FDA priorities in antimicrobial resistance, regenerative medicine, and biologics development.