Instructor
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Weill Medical College of Cornell University
White Plains, New York, USA
Phone: +1(660)349-9918
Email: amk3001@med.cornell.edu, akmodi2004@gmail.com
Education
Degree | Institution and Location | Year |
PhD | Biochemistry Lab, Department of Zoology, University Of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | 2005 - 2010 |
MSc | Department of Zoology, University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | 2002-2004 |
Biography
Dr. Kumar’s research focuses on identifying therapeutic targets and thereby, helping patients of Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke and other congenital diseases with appropriate therapy. He is currently involved in examining defects in glucose metabolism occurring at very early pre-symptomatic stages of Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. He is also studying transcriptional and redox defects associated with these diseases. For the first time, he has discovered the molecular way of increasing the efficacy as well as durability of lactate as an endogenous therapeutic drug for traumatic brain injury. His other research interest includes understanding the regulation of Hif-1α, the master regulator of hypoxic adaptation under hypoxia and ischemic Stroke. He has made multiple discoveries in Toxicology and pharmacology as well. He has published many papers in neuroscience as well as toxicology and pharmacology. He is the reviewer for multiple journals and has been honored with multiple awards.
Research Interest
Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke, Glucose metabolism, Transcriptional Biology, Redox Biology.
Scientific Activities
4th rank in the order of merit in B. Sc. Examinations held by University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India | 2002 |
2nd rank in the order of merit in M. Sc. Examinations held by University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India | 2004 |
Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India | 2005-2007 |
Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India | 2007-2010 |
IUTOX-award from International Union of Toxicology (In South Africa) | 2009 |
Young scientist travel award from Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Science, India | 2009 |
Post-doctoral Fellowship from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science, India | 2010-2012 |
Chaired the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS-2015) on Oxidative Stress and Disease in Ventura, CA, USA | 2015 |
Awarded Goldsmith fellowship for transition to Independence | 2016 |
Publications
- Speer RE, Karuppagounder SS, Basso M, Sleiman SF, Kumar A, Brand D, Smirnova N, Gazaryan I, Khim SJ, Ratan RR (2013) Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylases as targets for neuroprotection by “antioxidant” metal chelators: From ferroptosis to stroke. Free Radical Biol Med 62:26-36. [PMID: 23376032]
- Kumar A, Vaish M, Ratan RR (2014) Transcriptional dysregulation in Huntington disease: a failure of adaptive transcriptional homeostasis. Drug Discov Today 19(7):956-962. [PMCID: PMC4082751]
- Kumar A, Singh PK, Parihar R, Dwivedi V, Lakhotia SC, Ganesh S (2014) Decreased O-linked GlcNAcylation protects from toxicity mediated by Huntingtin exon1 protein fragment. J Biol Chem 289:13543-13553. [PMCID: PMC4036360]
- Aleyasin H, Karuppagounder SS, Kumar A, Sleiman SF, Basso M, Ma T, Siddiq A, Chinta SJ, Brochier C, Langley B, Haskew-Layton R, Bane SL, Riggins GJ, Gazaryan I, Starkov AA, Andersen JK, Ratan RR (2014) Antihelminthic benzimidazoles are novel HIF activators that prevent oxidative neuronal death via binding to tubulin. Antoxid Redox Signal 22(2): 121-134. [PMCID: PMC4281859]
- Karuppagounder SS, Kumar A, Shao DS, Zille M, Bourassa MW, Caulfield JT, Alim I, Ratan RR (2015) Metabolism and epigenetics in the nervous system: Creating cellular fitness and resistance to neuronal death in neurological conditions via modulation of oxygen-, iron-, and 2-oxoglutarate-depedent dioxygenases. Brain Research 1628(Pt B):273-87. [PMID: 26232572]
- Kumar A, Ratan RR (2016) Oxidative Stress and Huntington’s disease: The Good, Bad and The Ugly. J. Huntington’s Dis 5(3): 217-237. [PMID: 27662334].
- Kumar A, Vaish M, Starkov A, Gazaryan I, Ratan R.R. (2016) Are ROS necessary for hypoxic adaption via the Hif pathway in human neurons? Cell Metabol (Manuscript in submission).
- Kumar A, Shao DS, Zavarella T, Pinto JT, Sauve AA, Ratan RR (2017) An energy independent but a transcription dependent novel function of lactate as a neuroprotective agent under oxidative stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. (Manuscript in preparation).
- Kumar A, Karuppagounder SS, Sagdullaev B, Ming GL, Stuart C, Arancio O, Ratan RR (2017) Defects in glucose metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease. A pro-adaptive metabolic brainwork to keep memory intact for years. Nature neuroscience (Manuscript in preparation).
- Kumar A, Ratan RR (2017) Taxol induces neurite outgrowth not by just affecting microtubule organization but by a combination of both actin and microtubule remodeling. Neurobiology of Disease (Manuscript in preparation).
Biochemical Toxicology
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2007) Preliminary evaluation of the acute toxicity of cypermethrin and λ- cyhalothrin to Channa punctatus. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 79:613-616.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2008) Cypermethrin and λ-cyhalothrin induced alterations in nucleic acids and protein contents in a freshwater fish, Channa punctatus. Fish Physiol Biochem 34:331-338.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2009) -cyhalothrin and cypermethrin induced in-vivo alterations in the activity of acetylcholinesterase in a freshwater fish, Channa punctatus (Bloch). Pestic Bicochem Physiol 93:96-99.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2009) Cypermethrin and λ-cyhalothrin induced in vivo alterations in nucleic acids and protein contents in a freshwater catfish, Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus; Family - Clariidae). J Environ Sci Health, Part B 44:564-570.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2010) Toxicological assessment of pyrethroid insecticides with special reference to cypermethrin and λ-cyhalothrin in freshwater fishes: A review Int J Biol Med Res 1(4):315-325.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2011) Cypermethrin induced alterations in nitrogen metabolism in freshwater fishes. Chemosphere 83:492-501.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2011) Assessment of Acute Toxicity of lambda-cyhalothrin to a freshwater catfish, Clarias batrachus Environ Chem Lett 9:43-46.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2012) Assessment of stress in effect to pyrethroid insecticides, λ-cyhalothrin and cypermethrin in a freshwater fish, Channa punctatus (Bloch). Cell Mol Biol 58(1):153-159.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2012) Alterations in nitrogen metabolism in freshwater fishes, Channa punctatus and Clarias batrachus exposed to a commercial grade λ-cyhalothrin, REEVA-5. Int J Exp Pathol 93:34-45.
- Kumar A, Sharma B, Pandey RS (2014) λ-Cyhalothrin and cypermethrin induce stress in the freshwater muddy fish, Clarias batrachus. Toxicol Environ Chem 96(1):136-149