 Bhandari obtained her bachelor's degree in Human Biology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, followed by post graduation and doctorate in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science.Bhandari joined Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in 2008 as a Staff Scientist.Post her doctorate at Indian Institute of Science, Bhandari worked with Sandhya Srikant Visweswariah on signal transduction by the membrane-bound guanylyl cyclase, GCC, which is involved in maintaining fluid and ion homeostasis across the intestinal membrane.