Taru Sharma, born on 4 August 1965 at the heritage city of Mathura in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, did her early schooling at the St. Mary's Convent School, Mhow and her college studies at the Kishori Raman Girls College in Mathura and Agra College in Agra.Her doctoral research was at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) and after securing a PhD in 1990, she did her post-doctoral work as a research scientist at the Centre for Biotechnology of the National Dairy Development Board.