Rate My Professor Deepak Saini

Deepak Kumar Saini is Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology and Genetics at the Indian Institute of Science, with associate faculty affiliation in the Department of Bioengineering. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Delhi University in 1994, Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Madurai Kamaraj University in 1997, and PhD in Biotechnology from AIIMS, New Delhi, in 2003. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences from 2004 to 2005 and at Washington University Medical School from 2005 to 2010 before joining the Indian Institute of Science in 2010.

His research centers on signaling mechanisms in aging, inflammation, and infection. The SAInI laboratory investigates G protein-coupled receptors and their crosstalk in cellular senescence and age-associated processes using live imaging, pharmacological, genetic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic approaches. Parallel work examines two-component signaling systems in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including crosstalk among histidine kinases and response regulators that influence bacterial adaptation and virulence. Saini serves as Convener of the Longevity India Initiative at IISc. Key recent publications include a 2023 paper in Nature Communications on sequestration of histidine kinases by non-cognate response regulators and multiple studies on senescence in three-dimensional culture models and infection responses in aged cells. He coordinates the MSc Life Sciences Program at IISc and contributes to collaborative efforts such as the Franco-Indian Campus on Health.