Smruti joined the Cai Lab in 2023 after completing her Integrated Master of Science in Life Science from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. She is enrolled in the EPSRC-funded CDT BioDesign Engineering PhD program. As a part of the program, she completed her Mres in Systems and Synthetic Biology from Imperial College London. Her project is based on developing technologies for mammalian synthetic biology of engineering disease-based genomic loci that can be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. When not in the lab, she enjoys rummaging through the pages of a thriller novel, cooking and most likely munching on desserts!