DR ABHA VERMA

@iimtu.edu.in

Assistant Professor, Head Of Department, Microbiology
IIMT University Meerut

EDUCATION

Ph. D Biotechnology

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Antimicrobials, Nanotechnology, Probiotics
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Scopus Publications

Scopus Publications

  • Synthesis and characterisation of Celosia cristata L. flower extract-based silver nanoparticles as effective antimicrobial agent for plant protection
    M Sakil, V Abha, K Neelesh
    Plant Science Today, 2026
    Plant systems are a natural reservoir of phytochemicals that may act as agents for reducing silver ions into nanoparticles. This study reports the green synthesis and characterisation of silver nanoparticles using Celosia cristata L. flower extract and evaluates their antimicrobial efficacy against key plant pathogens: Alternaria solani, Fusarium graminearum and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. The biosynthesis involved the use of phytochemicals as natural reducing/stabilising agents and silver nitrate. The formation of silver nanoparticles was indicated by a colour change and confirmed by a surface plasmon resonance peak at 426 nm in UV–Visible spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed a face-centred cubic crystalline structure with dominant (111) orientation and transmission electron microscopy showed mostly spherical nanoparticles with an average size of 13 nm. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy identified functional groups responsible for capping and stabilisation. Antimicrobial activity was demonstrated through agar well diffusion with notable inhibition zones: 26 ± 1.00 mm (A. solani), 23 ± 2.00 mm (F. graminearum) and 21 ± 0.5 mm (X. oryzae pv. oryzae). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) as observed in the investigation was 78.1 mg/mL (for A. solani) and 156.2 mg/mL (for F. graminearum and X. oryzae pv. oryzae). The findings highlight the potential of C. cristata-derived silver nanoparticles as eco-friendly biocontrol agents in sustainable agriculture, offering a promising alternative to conventional chemical pesticides.
  • Nanocatalytic Application of the Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles for Enhancement of the Enzymatic Activity of Fungal Amylase and Cellulase
    International Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 2023
  • A study to evaluate the effect of phyto-silver nanoparticles synthesized using Oxalis stricta plant leaf extract on extracellular fungal amylase and cellulase
    Jyoti Singh, Neelesh Kapoor, Abha Verma
    Materials Today Proceedings, 2019
  • Activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized using aqueous leaf extract of Solanum Nigrum against potential human pathogenic bacteria
    Biochemical and Cellular Archives, 2016
  • Antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized using weeds
    Gautam Kumar, Abha Verma, Prakash Joshi, Arvind Arya
    Medicinal Plants, 2013
    Biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles are being widely used in the field of medicine. This report focuses on extracellular biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using leaf extracts of four commonly occurring weed. The synthesis of silver nanoparticles was detected by changing colour of plant leaf extracts from green to brown after treatment with AgNO3 and UV-Vis spectrophotometric analysis. These phyto-synthesized silver nanoparticles were tested for their antibacterial activity using agar well diffusion method. The test bacteria were E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus sp. Among all the test organisms Bacillus sp. followed by Staphylococcus aureus were found to be susceptible to all the silver nanoparticles with maximum inhibition by Sonchus asper whereas E. coli was least affected. The results suggest use of phytoextracts as an easy alternative for silver nanoparticles synthesis over the conventional methods.