Sanjeev Kumar

Associate Professor Department of Biological Sciences Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Vidhya Vihar Campus, Rajasthan

Biography

He received his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology with specialization in T-cell signaling from Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. His doctoral thesis title is "Signalling events leading to T-cell activation: proliferation and its modulation by Amphotericin B". He received ‘Institut National de la Santè et de la Recherche Médicale’ (INSERM) fellowship and worked as foreign scientist in the laboratory of Prof. Pierrer Ferrier at Centre d'Immunologie Marseille-Luminy (CIML), Marseille, France. During his stay at CIML he worked in the field of T-cell development and studied the regulation of somatic recombination in T-cell receptor (TCR) gene.

Research Interest

Dr. Kumar’s research is focused to understand the regulation of Plasmodium (malaria-causing parasite) development by mosquito innate immune system. His previous research characterized two peroxidase enzymes in the gut of mosquito which modulate innate immunity against natural symbiotic bacteria. Gene silencing of these peroxidases also suppress Plasmodium development (Kumar et al., 2010. Science. 327. 1644-48). Now he is studying the combined effect of mosquito peroxidases and other innate immune molecules on Plasmodium development through gene silencing methodology. In addition, he is also developing ways to manipulate novel mosquito immuno-active molecules which can block Plasmodium development and subsequent transmission among humans. The success of these strategies may save the life of millions around the globe and help in reducing malaria burden in human population