About
I was born and bought up in Roopnagar, a small town in the north Indian state of Punjab. I was awarded national scholarships for maintaining an excellent academic record in my secondary school examinations and received the certificate of merit for being among the top 0.1% of successful candidates in mathematics in the All India Secondary School Examination. Thereafter, I attended the Department of Biophysics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, where I gained my B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees. Here too, I received university medals for excellence in academics throughout my bachelor's and master's courses. I completed my Ph.D. in 2011 .
My teaching career began in 2007 as an Assistant Professor at Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma College, Chandigarh. In 2010 I rejoined Panjab University as Assistant Professor, where I am currently involved in teaching and research. In my post-doctoral research at University College London (U.K.) I analyzed and characterized peptides derived from the family of intermediate filament proteins that have the ability to bind unpolymerized tubulin. After completing my research in London, I returned to Panjab University in 2015. I have served as the Chairperson of the Department of Biophysics from 2020 to 2023 and Warden of Working Women Hostel from 2018 to 2023.
Latest Book Published 2022

Book Chapters
Patents Filed
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Peptide and Device for the detection of Prostate Specific Antigen. Avneet Saini, Panchali Barman, Sheetal Sharma, Shweta Sharma. Indian Patent Office, Application No.202211061821 A, 4 Nov 2022.
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Process and development of nano-bio composite anti-bacterial additive for commercial paint production. Gaurav Verma, Avneet Saini, Shubhi Joshi, Deeksha Sharma. Indian Patent Office, Application No. 202211011934 A, 4 March 2022.​
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A Synthetic Peptide Possessing Antimicrobial and Anticancer Properties. Avneet Saini, Pratibha Sharma, Simran Preet, Neha Singla, Praveen Rishi. Indian Patent Office, Application No. 202011015631, 9 April 2020.
Research Projects
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Development of a novel antibacterial and antibiofilm coating for biomaterial implants and medical devices. (ICMR) (2022-2025) Rs 50, 00, 000/-
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Development of peptide functionalized antifouling graphitic nano coating. (WOS-B, DST) (2021-2024) as Mentor.
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Studies on the consequences and prevention of the intra cellular amyloid B- aggregation and cognitive decline in progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Department of Science & Technology-Cognitive Science Research Initiative (2019-2022).
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Design and Development of Novel Peptides/Peptoids against selected pathogens. Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) (2017-2021) Rs 59, 52, 876/-.
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Design and Bio validation of novel antimicrobial peptides. UGC-BSR (2016-2020).
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Joshi S., Sharma S., Verma G., Saini A. Peptide functionalized nanomaterials as microbial sensors. In Photophysics and Nanophysics in Therapeutics (2022) by Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-323-89839-3.
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Barman P., Sharma S., Saini A. Improving the functionality of a nanomaterial by biological probes. In Photophysics and Nanophysics in Therapeutics (2022) by Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-323-89839-3.
Group Members

PhD Students
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Mayank Maan, 2021
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Satvika, 2021
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Panchali Barman, 2019
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Sandeep Saini, 2018
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Shubhi Joshi, 2017
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Pratibha Sharma, (2016-2020)
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Sheetal Sharma, (2012-2017)
Masters Students
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Hemant, 2021-22
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Chakshu Sharma, 2020-21
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Piyush, 2019-2020
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Ruby Siddiqui, 2018-2019
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Puneet Kaur, 2017-18
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Aindrilla Chatterjee, 2016-17
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Aakarshan Datta, 2016-17
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Reetika Sahore, 2015-2016
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Sukriti Sharma, 2012-2013
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Riteshwari Negi, 2011-2012
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Rohit Bansal, 2011-2012
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Tapish Malik, 2011-2012
Contact
Information
Department of Biophysics,
Basic Medical Science Block-2 (BMS Block-2), South Campus, Sec-25
Chandigarh-160014 (India)
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