Current Appointments
Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry (Department Chair)
Member, Cancer Center, Tufts Medical Center
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Education
Skaggs Research Fellow, 1996-98, Scripps Research
Institute & Skaggs Institute for Chem. Biology
Ph.D., 1996, Brown University, Providence RI
B.Sc. (Hons.), 1991, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, India
Research Interests
Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Prof. Kumar
and his group are involved in areas of research that lie at the interface of
chemistry and biology. The main goal of the research is to use chemical and
biological methods to create novel and functional molecules that allows us to
understand the mechanism of, and/or control biological processes. His group uses
the traditional techniques of organic chemistry, such as synthesis and
spectroscopy, of biological chemistry, such as recombinant DNA technology,
protein purification and enzyme kinetics, and of biophysics, including
investigation of protein structure in membranes. Current projects in his
laboratory focus on: De novo protein design and evolution; Combating bacterial
resistance to antibiotics; Understanding the origin of the intron-exon
gene structure of modern day enzymes; Catalysis by small molecules and peptides;
and Design of membrane protein architectures for specialized functions.
Selected Recent Publications
"A Model System for Cell Adhesion Mediated by Weak Carbohydrate-Carbohydrate Interactions" B. Lorenz, L. Á. de Cienfuegos, M. Oelkers, E. Kriemen, C. Brand, M. Stephan, E. Sunnick, D. Yüksel, V. Kalsani, K. Kumar, D. Werz and A. Janshoff, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 3326-3369.
"Chemical Biology Using Fluorinated Building Blocks", C. Zamora, L. Dafik and K. Kumar, in Supramolecular Chemistry: From Molecules to Nanomaterials, P. A. Gale and J. W. Steed, Eds., John Wiley & Sons 2012, Chichester, UK, pp. 1947-1964.
"β–Peptide Bundles with Flourous Cores", M. Molski, J. Goodman,
C. Craig, H. Meng, K. Kumar and A. Schepartz, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 3658-3659.
"Modulation of Cellular Adhesion by Glycoengineering", L. Dafik, M. d'Alarcao,
and K. Kumar, J. Med. Chem., 2010, 53, 4277-4284.
"Trifluoromethyl Derivatization of the Ganglioside, GM1", Z. Liu and K. Kumar, Synthesis, 2010, 1905-1908.
"Mimicking the Prehairpin Intermediate of gp41: A Screening Platform for Fusion
Inhibitors Based on Coiled Coil Lipopeptides Assembled in Artificial Biomembranes", S. Schuy, N.
Yoder, S. Hobe, K. Kumar, R. Vogel and A. Janshoff, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2009,
48, 751-754.
"Fluorinated Lipid Constructs Permit Facile Passage of Molecular Cargo into
Living Cells", L. Dafik, V. Kalsani, A. K. L. Leung and K. Kumar, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009,
131, 12091-12093.
"Biosynthesis of Stable Coiled-Coils Containing
(2S,4R)-5,5,5-Trifluoroleucine and (2S,4S)-5,5,5-Trifluoroleucine" J. K.
Montclare, S. Son, G. Clark, K. Kumar and D. Tirrell, ChemBioChem, 2009, 10, 84-86.
"Lipopeptides Derived from HIV and SIV Mimicking the Prehairpin
Intermediate of gp41 on Solid Supported Lipid Bilayers", S. Schuy, E. Schäfer,
N. C. Yoder, K. Kumar, R. Vogel and A. Janshoff, J. Struct. Biol., 2009, 168, 125-136.
Additional publications can be found HERE.
|
