Dr. Prashant Kumar brings along with him vast expertise & accomplishments in the field of Cancer Biology and has done extensive research to enhance the translational merits of cancer research. He had established multiple collaborations, and attracted several grants funding from both national and international sources.
Dr. Kumar is a recipient of many prestigious awards and industry recognitions that include Ramanujan Fellowship awarded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, National Award for Excellence in Academic Clinical Research from the Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) to name a few.
The illustrious work experience of Dr. Kumar spans across various prestigious institutions/organizations such as Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, Berlin, Germany, Department of Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Medical School, Worcester, USA, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A-STAR Singapore and his entrepreneurial venture Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) at Bengaluru. His immediate last assignment was with Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai as Dean-Research for the entire University and Director of Somaiya Institute of Research and Consultancy (SIRAC).
Dr. Kumar worked in several path-breaking research initiatives that includes establishing a novel mouse model of malignant breast cancers, establishment of a culture method to assess circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from breast cancers, implementation of cutting-edge technologies in genomics, proteomics to investigate biomarkers and therapeutic targets and his efforts to accelerated discovery in the advancement towards cancer vaccines, precision medicine, molecular diagnostics, bioengineering, and artificial intelligence to name a few. Another major contribution he made in the area of bladder cancer, where his discovery of a biomarker panel for the early diagnosis of bladder cancer was pursued by industry to commercialize it for routine clinical use. This is an important achievement in the clinical community of urologists since, as still today, there are no reliable biomarkers for bladder cancer, which includes the two FDA-approved diagnostic kits.
Dr. Kumar serves on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Annals of Research in Oncology and Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics, Frontiers in Oncology and Frontiers in Pharmacology; and, on the scientific advisory committee of various Industry and private organizations.
Dr. Kumar received his Ph.D. in 2009 from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, Berlin, Germany. Following this, Dr. Kumar did his postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Prof. Karl Simin at the Department of Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Medical School, Worcester, USA. To further advance his research stint, he joined Prof. Jean-Paul Thiery, a world renowned authority in the area of EMT (Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition) at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A-STAR Singapore.
