Dr. Heena Saini, PhD

As Scientist-C at AIIA, Dr Heena Saini led and contributed to high-impact research, academic mentorship, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and national-level institutional development in integrative and molecular biology research. Her role encompassed scientific leadership, translational project development, infrastructure setup, and academic capacity-building. 🔹 Institutional & Research Leadership Played a pivotal role in establishing the Integrated Translational Molecular Biology Unit (ITMBU), designing its workflow and research focus areas. The establishment of the ITMBU was featured in ‘A Decade of Transformative Growth in Ayush (2014–2024)’, a commemorative publication released by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. 🔹 Academic Teaching & Mentorship Delivered academic lectures to MD scholars on advanced concepts. Supervised MD thesis and M.Sc. dissertation. Mentored MD and PhD students on in-silico Network Pharmacology projects and translational research. Invited as a guest speaker in multiple national and international academic events, promoting research-oriented learning across Ayurveda and biomedical sciences. 🔹 Research & Scientific Contributions Actively engaged in hospital data curation and clinical research, contributing to publications on COVID-19 and chronic diseases. Published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, including Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Public Health, Frontiers in Oncology, and others. Co-authored in Intramural research grants involving cross-departmental collaboration. 🔹 Scientific Outreach & Event Organization Organized national/international academic events and trained hundreds of students and faculty through research workshops and institutional awareness programs

Ph.D. Thesis Title: Exploring Therapeutic Opportunities Against Gain of Function Mutant P53 Harboring Cancer Cells Through Regulation of Protein Homeostatic Machinery - 8.71 CGPA ▪ Publications- Authored 7 publications in Scopus-indexed journals as part of thesis work (04) and other collaborative work (03). ▪ Project: 1. DBT Funded (2016-2018)-Contributed significantly as JRF, later promoted to SRF, to a DBT-funded research project titled “Mutant-p53 gain-of-function: its role in regulating long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression and associated chemo-resistance in human cancer cells.” Roles included experimental execution, procurement planning, progress reporting, and manuscript preparation. 2. CSIR Funded (2019-2021)- Worked as CSIR-SRF direct fellow in the project entitled: Understanding the cross-talk between autophagy and ubiquitin proteasomal signalling pathway under drug stress in cancer cells with different p53 background. ▪ Awards: -DST-SERB International Travel Grant (EMBO, Scotland, 2019) -ICMR International Travel Grant (2019, not availed) -CSIR-SRF (2019–2021), CSIR-UGC NET LS (2019) -ICMR-SRF (2019-2021; not availed) -Best Poster – CRCBT 2016, UIAR-Gandhinagar -Appreciation Award – LSRIEAS 2018, BITS Pilani ▪ Conferences (Selected) -EMBO Workshop – Autophagy: From molecular principles to human diseases (Scotland, 2019) -EMBO Autophagy Conference (Bhubaneshwar, India, 2017) -National CRCBT Symposium (UIAR, Gandhinagar, India, 2016) ▪ Mentoring/ Teaching: Mentored 04 Master’s and 02 Bachelor’s students through their dissertation work. Delivered lectures to undergraduate and postgraduate students (class size 20+), covering core molecular biology topics. ▪ Event Coordination: Volunteered in the organization of national and international academic conferences and intra-departmental workshops/events.

Attended a DBT-sponsored training on “Immuno-Molecular Diagnosis and Characterization of Bio-molecules by using Bioinformatics and Biotechnological Tool”.