Research Work
AREAS OF RESEARCH
Encephalitis: Dr. Kumar's lab is working on the mechanism that regulates microglial/macrophage activation after Japanese encephalitis (JE) viral infection to control infection, disease pathologies, and behavior dysfunction. Currently, the following studies are going on: 1) Autophagy regulation of microglia/macrophage activation phenotype after JE viral infection; 2) Role of Microparticle (MPs; Annexin positive large extracellular vesicles) in seeding neuroinflammation in different body areas such as brain, spinal cord, muscle and in cell death pathways after viral (encephalitis) infection; 3) Role of iron homeostasis in remodeling of macrophage activation and immune cell function after JE viral infection.
CNS Injury: Dr. Kumar's lab is focused on pathophysiological mechanisms underlying post-traumatic neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, loss of neurological function, and the development of key treatment approaches to promote repair mechanisms and functional recovery. In recent studies, he has demonstrated resident microglia's activation status and the functional role and infiltrating blood-borne macrophages in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in both young and aged populations and how these contribute to chronic neurodegeneration and long-term neurological dysfunction. Recently Dr. Kumar's lab has been funded by ICMR, New Delhi (2023) for developing"Microparticle" as a liquid biopsy tool for trauma patients' stress and chronic neurodegenerative disorders.
Cardiovascular Disease: Dr. Kumar's lab is focused on delineating the role of Macrophages indeveloping cardiovascular disease (CVD; a group of diseases involving the heart or blood vessels). Recent studies have shown that cellular inflammation is a key contributor to nearly all forms of cardiovascular disease, which can be triggered due to local injury (such as atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion in myocardial infarction) or initiate local injury (e.g., cardiac transplant rejection). Dr. Kumar's lab is focused on understanding the diverse macrophage responses, phenotypes, and the possibilities for their modulation to develop targeted therapies to mitigate injury and orchestrate the recovery of the diseased heart.
The long-term goal of Dr. Kumar's research lab is to develop key molecular markers and new biotechnological methodologies to address clinical needs in treating devastating diseases such ascardiovascular disease, brain viral infection, and brain injury diseases. More specifically, lab is interested in exploring the possibilities in modulating cellular communication such as macrophage-macrophage, macrophage-platelet,glial-neuronal, and others which might be the central event in the pathogenesis of chronic disorders. To reach this, two lines of research in the lab are being conducted. The first line is hostprotection, which includes investigating novel molecules that may play a central or convergent role in the regulation of multiple injury mechanisms, such as protein clearance /autophagy regulation, macrophage-mediated inflammation, and extracellular vesicle modulation for intercellular communication. The second line of research interest is regeneration by using cellular transplantation or modulated extracellular vesicle treatment for drug delivery to promote regeneration pathways.