The death of the endothelial cell continues throughout the acute phase of the spinal cord injury (SCI), predominantly at the injury epicenter. My major research area is to find the target or NCEs for endothelial protection/stabilization within penumbral microvasculature and preserving the blood-spinal cord barrier integrity. Additionally, I am also evaluated the effect of biomaterials/nanoparticles on injured spinal cord. Additionally, I have vast experience in animal model development in diverse therapeutic areas, including spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathic &inflammatory pain, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis.

• January 2020 -Present:
  Assistant Professor, NIPER- Ahmedabad, Palaj, Gandhinagar
• September 2017 – January 2020:
  Assistant Professor, CHA University, South Korea
• December 2015 – August 2017:
  Korean Research Fellow ,CHA University, South Korea .
• December 2009 – February 2011:
  Senior Research Biologist, Chembiotek (TCG Lifescience),Kolkata
• April 2009 – December 2009:
  Research officer , Glenmark Pharmaceuticals,Mumbai
• May 2007 – March 2009:
  Research Associate , Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai
• June 2006 – March 2007:
  Research Trainee , CDRI,Lucknow

Awards

• Brain Korea-21 (BK-21) scholarship for doing Ph.D
• BK-21 award for the year 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 (Highest impact factor).
• Full scholarship assistance for doing Master’s by Government of India (GATE).
• Korea Research Fellowship (KRF) for doing Postdoc.
• Best Oral presentation award in Biospine Asia Pacific 2018 held at Yonsei University April 27, 2018.
• Wiltse Academic Award at the 32nd Annual meeting of the Korean Spinal Neurosurgery Society September 14, 2018.

Grants

• Korea Research Fellowship (KRF) for doing post-doc (2015.12~2020.02) – 70 million KRW/year [NRF-2015H1D3A1066543] "TRPV4 channels as new therapeutic target in spinal cord injury”
• Neutrophil elastase as a therapeutic target through angiopoietin/Tie-2 signaling in spinal cord injury given by Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning as Principal Investigator (2017.03~2020.02) – 80 million KRW/year [NRF-2017R1C1B2011772]
• Korea-Europe (KOR-EU) research grant for doing research at Ospedale San Raffaele (Milan, Italy) in the Molecular Neurobiology lab headed by Prof. Dario Bonanomi.

• Songhyun Lim, Seong Bae An, Mungyo Jung, Hari Prasad Joshi, Hemant Kumar, Cheesue Kim, Seuk Young Song, Ju-Ro Lee, Mikyung Kang, Inbo Han, Byung-Soo Kim. (2021). Local Delivery of Senolytic Drug Inhibits Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and Restores Intervertebral Disc Structure, Advanced Healthcare Materials. 2101483. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202101483
• Kirti Adhikari, Sonam Dolma, Teena Mamidi, Abhishek Roy, Zarna Pathak, and Hemant Kumar. (2021). Tomographic Imaging and Correlation to Quantify Vascular and Inflammatory Changes in an Experimental Spinal Cord Injury, ACS Chemical Neuroscience. org/10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00390
• Mounika Choppadandi, Aditya Teja Guduru , Piyush Gondaliya , Neha Arya, Kiran Kalia,Hemant Kumar, Govinda Kapusetti. (2021). Structural Features Regulated Photoluminescence Intensity and Cell Internalization of Carbon and Graphene Quantum Dots for Bioimaging, Materials Science and Engineering: C. 112366. doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2021.112366
• Abhishek Roy, Zarna Pathak, Hemant Kumar. (2021). Strategies to neutralize RhoA/ROCK pathway after spinal cord injury, Experimental Neurology. 343, doi.org/10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113794
• Sonam Dolma & Hemant Kumar. (2021). Neutrophil, Extracellular Matrix Components, and Their Interlinked Action in Promoting Secondary Pathogenesis After Spinal Cord Injury, Molecular Neurobiology. doi.org/10.1007/s12035-021-02443-5
• Kumar H, Lim CS, Choi H, Joshi HP, Kim K-T, Kim YH, et al. Elevated TRPV4 levels contribute to endothelial damage and scarring in experimental spinal cord injury. Journal of Neuroscience. 2020. 40 (9) 1943-1955, (I.F- 6.07)
• Kumar H, Choi H, Jo M-J, Joshi HP, Muttigi M, Bonanomi D, et al. Neutrophil elastase inhibition effectively rescued angiopoietin-1 decrease and inhibits glial scar after spinal cord injury. Acta neuropathologica communications. 2018;6(1):1-18. (I.F- 5.88)
• Kumar H, Lee S-H, Kim K-T, Zeng X, Han I. TRPV4: a sensor for homeostasis and pathological events in the CNS. Molecular neurobiology. 2018;55(11):8695-708. (I.F- 4.58)
• Kim HY$,Kumar H, Jo M-J, Kim J, Yoon J-K, Lee J-R, et al. Therapeutic efficacy-potentiated and diseased organ-targeting nanovesicles derived from mesenchymal stem cells for spinal cord injury treatment. Nano letters. 2018;18(8):4965-75. (Co-first) (I.F- 12.27)
• Kumar H, Ha D-H, Lee E-J, Park JH, Shim JH, Ahn T-K, et al. Safety and tolerability of intradiscal implantation of combined autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells and hyaluronic acid in patients with chronic discogenic low back pain: 1-year follow-up of a phase I study. Stem cell research & therapy. 2017;8(1):262. (I.F- 4.62)
• Kim HJ, Lim CS, Lee HW, Lee HS, Um YJ, Kumar H, et al. A ratiometric two-photon probe for Ca2+ in live tissues and its application to spinal cord injury model. Biomaterials. 2017;141:251-9. (I.F-10.27)
• Kumar H, Jo M-J, Choi H, Muttigi MS, Shon S, Kim B-J, et al. Matrix Metalloproteinase-8 Inhibition Prevents Disruption of Blood–Spinal Cord Barrier and Attenuates Inflammation in Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury. Molecular neurobiology. 2018;55(3):2577-90. (I.F- 4.58)
• Ahn J$,Kumar H,Cha BH, Park S, Arai Y, Han I, et al. AIMP1 downregulation restores chondrogenic characteristics of dedifferentiated/degenerated chondrocytes by enhancing TGF-β signal. Cell death & disease. 2017;7(2):e2099. (Co-first) (I.F- 5.95)
• Kumar H, Kim I-S, More SV, Kim B-W, Choi D-K. Natural product-derived pharmacological modulators of Nrf2/ARE pathway for chronic diseases. Natural product reports. 2014;31(1):109-39. (I.F- 11.87)
• Kumar H,Choi D-K. Hypoxia inducible factor pathway and physiological adaptation: a cell survival pathway? Mediators of inflammation. 2015;2015. (I.F- 3.54)

Patents

• Four Korean Patent filed

Peer Review Abstract

• Title :TRPV4 instigate endothelial disruption and secondary damage in spinal cord injury Hemant Kumar, Chang Su Lim, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prashad Joshi, Hwan Myung Kim, In-Bo Han Conference Details: Poster/Society for Neuroscience, 2019, Chicago, USA
• Title :TRPV4 activation augments Inflammation and Endothelial damage after spinal cord injury Hemant Kumar, Chang Su Lim, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prashad Joshi, Hwan Myung Kim, In-Bo Han Conference Details: Poster/ International Society of Neurochemistry, 2019, Montreal, Canada
• Title :TRPV4 inhibition significantly attenuated scarring after spinal cord injury Hemant Kumar, Chang Su Lim, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prashad Joshi, Hwan Myung Kim, In-Bo Han Conference Details: Oral/Winter Conference/workshop, 2018, South Korea
• Title :Therapeutic Efficacy-potentiated and Diseased Organ-targetable Nanovesicles Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Hemant Kumar, Han Young Kim, Min-Jae Jo, Jonghoon Kim, …. Byung-Soo Kim Conference Details: Oral/Biospine Asia Pacific, 2018, Seoul, South Korea
• Title :Therapeutic Efficacy-potentiated and Diseased Organ-targetable Nanovesicles Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Hemant Kumar, Han Young Kim, Min-Jae Jo, Jonghoon Kim, …. Byung-Soo Kim Conference Details: Oral/The Korean Spine Neurosurgery Society, 2018, Busan, South Korea
• Title :TRPV4 Perform Mechanosensing and its Activation Augment Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier Disruption and Supplement Inflammation in Experimental Model(s) of Spinal Cord Injury Hemant Kumar, Chang Su Lim, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prashad Joshi, Hwan Myung Kim, In-Bo Han Conference Details: Oral/International Society of Neuroimmunology, 2018, Brisbane, Australia
• Title :Neutrophil Elastase Inhibition Prevents Vascular Damage and Attenuate Neuropathic Pain in Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury Hemant Kumar, Min-Jae Jo, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prasad Joshi, Soo-Hong Lee, Inbo Han Conference Details: Dynamic Poster/ European Pain Federation, 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Title :Neutrophil Elastase Inhibition Prevents Vascular Damage and Attenuate Neuropathic Pain in Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury Hemant Kumar, Min-Jae Jo, Hyemin Choi, Hari Prasad Joshi, Soo-Hong Lee, Inbo Han Conference Details: Poster/Japan Neursocience Society, 2017, Japan
• Matrix metalloproteinase-8 activation and its role in inflammation and pathology after spinal cord Injury Hemant Kumar, Soo-Hong Lee, Inbo Han Conference Details: Oral/KTERMS, 2016, Seoul, South Korea National/International: National
• AIMP1 downregulation restores chondrogenic characteristics of dedifferentiated/degenerated chondrocytes by enhancing TGF-β signal.Kumar H, Ahn J, Cha BH, Park S…………………..Park SG, Lee SH Conference Details: Poster/Korean Orthopedic Society, 2015, Seoul, South Korea