Dr. Kumar joined TCOP from the University of Houston where he served as Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Prior to that Dr. Kumar served as Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine where he also served as Director of Research. Dr. Kumar has over 20-years of medical and graduate school teaching experience and is well versed with various teaching and assessment methods. Additionally, Dr. Kumar has been an integral part of medical school's component of the strategic plans, development of new programs and needs and challenges of accreditation related activities. Dr. Kumar has authored/co-authored ≥100 publications which are highly cited’ He has been recipient of several research grant funding including NIH RO1s. Dr. Kumar has given many invited talks, served as Editorial Board member or scientific reviewer for numerous journals, served on number of Grant Review Panels including NIH and NSF, and established several research collaborations at national and international levels. Dr. Kumar’s laboratory is working on the drug development for the steroid hormone receptor-based therapeutic targeting of endocrine cancers. The premise of this research is the prospect of developing an effective, reliable, and clinically relevant therapeutic target.

Areas of Expertise

Endocrinology; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Cancers; Drug Discovery

Education

PhD, University of Lucknow, UP, India, 1995
MS, University of Lucknow, UP, India, 1989

Research

Structure-based drug designing and development of therapeutic targets for the endocrine cancers

Recent Publications

1. Kumar R, DuMond JF, Khan SH, Thompson EB, He Y, Burg MB, Ferraris JD. NFAT5, which protects against hypertonicity, is activated by that stress via structuring of its intrinsically disordered domain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 117, 20292-20297, 2020.
2. Khan SH, McLaughlin WA, and Kumar R. Site-specific phosphorylation regulates the structure and function of an intrinsically disordered domain of the glucocorticoid receptor. Scientific Reports 7, 15440, 2017.
3. Goswami D, Pascal B, Kumar R, Edwards DP, and Griffin PR. Structural dynamics and inter domain crosstalk of PR-TBP interaction probed by hydrogen/deuterium exchange Mass Spectrometry. Structure 22, 961-973, 2014.
4. Singh CK, George J, Nihal M, Sabat G, Kumar R, and Ahmad N. Novel Downstream Molecular Targets of SIRT1 in Melanoma: A Quantitative Proteomics Approach. Oncotarget 5, 1987-1999, 2014.
5. Simons SS, Edwards DP, and Kumar R. Dynamic Structures of Nuclear Hormone Receptors: New Promises and Challenges. Mol. Endocrinol. 28, 173-82, 2014.
6. Kumar R, Moure CM, Khan SH, Callaway C, Grimm S, Goswami D, Griffin PR, and Edwards DP. Regulation of the structurally dynamic disordered amino-terminal domain of progesterone receptor by protein induced folding. Biol. Chem. 288, 30285-30299, 2013.
7. Khan SH, Lopez-Dee Z, Gutierrez L, Kumar R, and Ling J. Activation of NFkB in breast cancer cells is a novel mechanism of pro-survival activity of glucocorticoids. Cancer Lett. 337, 90-95, 2013.
8. Khan SH, Awasthi S, Guo C, Goswami D, Ling J, Griffin PR, Simons, SS, and Kumar R. Binding of the amino terminal region of coactivator TIF2 to the intrinsically disordered AF1 domain of the glucocorticoid receptor is accompanied by conformational reorganizations. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 44546-44560, 2012.
9. Ling J, and Kumar R. Crosstalk between NFkB and glucocorticoid signaling as a novel target of breast cancer therapy. Cancer Letters 322, 119-126, 2012.
10. Kumar R, and McEwan IJ. Allosteric modulators of steroid hormone receptors:  structural dynamics and gene regulation. Endocrine Reviews 33, 271-299, 2012.
11. Savidge T, Urvil P, Oezguen N, Braun W^, Pinchuk I, Torres A, English R, Wiktorowitz J, Kumar R, Stamler J, and Pothoulakis C. Host S-nitrosylation inhibits clostridial small molecule-activated autoprocessing toxins. Nature Medicine 17, 1136-1141,2011.
12. Ahmad N, and Kumar R. Steroid hormone receptors in cancer development: A target for cancer therapeutics. Cancer Letters 300, 1-9, 2011.
13. Khan SH, Ahmad N, Ahmad F, and Kumar R. Naturally occurring organic osmolytes: From cell physiology to disease prevention. IUBMB Life 62, 891–895, 2010. (Selected for Journal Cover Page).
14. Garza AS, Khan SH, and Kumar R. Site-specific phosphorylation induces functionally active conformation in the intrinsically disordered N-terminal activation function domain (AF1) of the glucocorticoid receptor. Mol. Cell. Biol. 30, 220-230, 2010. (Selected for Research Highlight).
15. Salama SA, Kamel MW, Diaz-Arrastia CR, Xu X, Veenstra TD, Salih S, Botting SK, and Kumar R. Effect of TNF-ά on estrogen metabolism and homeostasis in endometrial cells: A potential relevance to physiological and pathological processes in endometrium. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 94, 285-93, 2009.
16. Kumar R, Volk DE, Li J, Gorenstein DG, Lee JC, and Thompson EB. TBP binding induces structure in the recombinant glucocorticoid receptor AF1 domain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 101, 16425-16430, 2004.
17. Kumar R, Betney R, Li J, Thompson EB, and McEwan IJ. Induced a-helix structure in the AF1 of the androgen receptor upon binding transcription factor TFIIF. Biochemistry 43, 3008-3013, 2004.
18. Kumar R, Lee JC, Bolen DW, and Thompson EB. The conformation of the glucocorticoid receptor AF1/tau1 domain induced by osmolyte binds co-regulatory Proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 18146-18152, 2001.
19. Kumar R, Baskakov IV, Srinivasan G, Bolen DW, Lee JC, and Thompson EB. Inter-domain signaling in a two-domain fragment of the human glucocorticoid receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 24737-24741, 1999.
20. Baskakov IV, Kumar R, Srinivasan G, Ji Y, Bolen DW, and Thompson EB. Trimethylamine N-oxide-induced cooperative folding of an intrinsically unfolded transcription-activating fragment of human glucocorticoid receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 10693-10696, 1999.

Languages

Hindi

Hobbies

Sports, travelling, cooking, reading