Indian American chemist (born 1970)
Krishna Kumar (born 1 November 1970) is an Indian American chemist whose research spans organic chemistry, chemical biology, bioorganic chemistry, biophysics and cell biology.
He is currently Robinson Professor of Chemistry and was also Chemistry Department Chair from 2006 to 2009; and from 2012 to 2018 at Tufts University.
Career.
Prior to Tufts University, he was at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California and got his bachelor's degree in Chemistry with honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry (1996) from Brown University.
Kumar has given proteins hyperstable folding properties by inserting fluorinated amino acids into them. Recent studies by his research team have shown that fluorination of biologically active antimicrobial peptides is an effective strategy for improving their stability and antimicrobial therapeutic value.
In addition to antibiotics, Kumar's work includes the design of fluorinated drug delivery systems using lipids as carriers, and potential cancer drugs and imaging agents. His laboratory has also invented methods for cell surface engineering and imaging of cancer cells with metastatic potential.
Publications.
Web of Science shows these as the 10 most cited publications:
References.
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