Lavanya Jayasankar is a doctoral researcher in Cancer Biology and Plasma Medicine at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), Chennai. Her research focuses on developing innovative therapeutic strategies for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), with particular emphasis on investigating metabolic alterations in patient-derived tumor explants following Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) exposure and its potential to enhance targeted anticancer drug uptake for precision cancer therapy. She earned her Master's in Medical Biochemistry from Dr. A.L.M. Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, graduating as University Gold Medalist and receiving her degree and medal from the Hon'ble President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu. During her postgraduate studies, she was also awarded University Merit Fellowships in recognition of her academic excellence.
Lavanya began her doctoral work under the Shri NPV Ramaswamy Udayar Chancellor Fellowship and was subsequently selected for the prestigious DST INSPIRE Fellowship, a highly competitive award conferred by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to outstanding students, including University Gold Medalists and first-rank holders. Prior to her research career, she served as a Biochemistry Tutor at SRM University, where she mentored approximately 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students across Allied Health Sciences programs. Her responsibilities included guiding postgraduate thesis research and conducting both theoretical and practical laboratory training. Her long-term goal is to advance translational cancer research by integrating cancer biology with plasma medicine to develop more effective, personalized therapies that improve patient outcomes.