Presently, Dr. Sneh Manishi Toprani serves as Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in MA, USA. Her current research is centered around identifying functional DNA repair biomarkers in non-small lung cancer patients. The goal is to predict disease risk and develop personalized treatment plans based on each patient's sensitivity to radiation and other DNA-damaging agents.
Additionally, she also serves as a Principal Investigator, focusing on assessing genomic instability caused by occupational exposures in firefighters. Dr. Sneh is also an Affiliated Research Scientist at SHINE, Harvard, where she collaborates on the Flight Attendant Health study. The objective is to investigate whether compromised genomic integrity resulting from air travel exposures contributes to the elevated health risks observed in flight crews. Furthermore, she holds the role of Affiliated Radiation Oncology collaborator at Brigham Women's Hospital, aiming to comprehend the effects of low-dose radiation on human health within medical settings.
She completed her Post-Doctoral Research at the John B Little Center of Radiation Sciences, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, USA. Her research concentrated on evaluating DNA repair capacity (DRC) in the human population and understanding changes in DRC due to occupational and environmental exposures. She played a key role in developing an innovative platform for functional-based assays to assess DRC changes induced by exposure to engineered nanomaterials, including copier center particles and cesium oxide particles, collaborating with Harvard-Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.
She earned her Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre-University of Mumbai, India. Her doctoral research focused on investigating the "Role of base excision repair mechanisms (BER) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells exposed to ionizing radiation." Specifically, she delved into comprehending the involvement of the BER mechanism in human peripheral blood lymphocytes exposed to low doses of gamma radiation. Her exploration extended to studying the role of BER in facilitating radio-adaptive responses in humans when exposed to acute doses of radiation. She extrapolated these findings to unravel an individual's radiosensitivity in correlation with existing DNA repair polymorphisms. Additionally, she conducted research to understand the DNA repair mechanisms involved in addressing fission neutron-induced DNA damage, comparing it to gamma radiation exposures in the human population. Furthermore, she deciphered various DNA repair polymorphisms and their associations with disease risk in humans.
Dr. Sneh has authored numerous research articles in various international peer-reviewed journals and holds the corresponding author position for multiple review articles.
In addition to her significant academic achievements, she holds a Master's and Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology, along with an Advanced Diploma in Clinical Research. Her teaching experience is extensive, marked by a nationally competitive CSIR lectureship.
Her accolades include prestigious national awards such as the Bharat Excellence Award and Leading Educationist Award of India with a gold medal in 2019, Rashtriya Gaurav Vidya Purashkar in 2016, and the Young Scientist Award in 2015, among others.
Beyond her academic pursuits, she is a certified fitness consultant and sports therapist. Engaging in various sports, including cricket, volleyball, badminton, and powerlifting, she also served as a Chief Learning Officer in Startup India USA. In this role, she actively contributed to launch and support aspiring entrepreneurs by coordinating and communicating with CEOs to introduce new businesses to the market.