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Faculty
Nirbhay Kumar, PhD |
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"Excitement is building around the successful outcome of vaccination in nonhuman primates using malaria transmission-blocking DNA vaccines developed in our laboratory. We are also working actively to explore different ways of DNA vaccine delivery for improved immunogenicity in further trials in nonhuman primates and possibly humans."
A major focus in Nirbhay Kumar's laboratory is investigating molecular mechanisms involved in the differentiation and development of sexual stages of the parasite leading to mosquito infection and malaria transmission. Ongoing projects involve targeted gene disruption, high-throughput approaches for functional exploitation of Plasmodium and Anopheline genomes and identification of molecular components of the recombination machinery in malaria parasites. Tests in mice and nonhuman primates have revealed promising results for DNA vaccines based on malaria transmission-blocking target antigens in P. falciparum and P. vivax. The Kumar lab is also using murine models to look at immune interactions among Plasmodium and helminthes, common coinfections in developing countries.
CONTACT DR. KUMAR
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 North Wolfe Street
Room E5144
Baltimore, MD 21205
email: nkumar@jhsph.edu
phone: 410-955-7177
fax: 410-955-0105
LINKS
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Okulate, M., Kalume, D.E., Kristiansen, T., Bhattacharyy, M.K., Pandey, A. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Identification and molecular characterization of a novel protein SAGLIN recognized by monoclonal antibodies affecting infectivity of Plasmodium sporozoite infectivity of salivary glands in An. gambiae. Insect Molecular Biology (In press, 2007).
Mlambo, G. and Kumar, Nirbhay. A modified Plasmodium falciparum growth inhibition assay (GIA) to assess activity of plasma from malaria endemic areas. Exp. Parasitology. 115:211-214 (2007).
Promeneur, D.,., Liu, Y., Maciel, J., Agre, P. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Evidence for a role of the Plasmodium berghei aquaglyceroporin (pbAQP) in the intrerythrocytic development of the malaria parasite. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 2211-2216 (2007).
Mlambo, G., Sullivan, D., Mutambu, S.L., Soko, W., Mbedzi, J., Chivenga, J., Germpeli, A., Kumar, Nirbhay. High prevalence of molecular markers for resistance to chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine in P. falciparum from Zimbabwe. Parasitology Research. 101: 1147-1151 (2007)
Mlambo, G., Sullivan, D., Mutambu, S.L., Soko, W., Mbedzi, J., Chivenga, J., Germpeli, A., Kumar, Nirbhay. Analysis of genetic polymorphism in select vaccine candidate antigens and microsatellite loci in Plasmodium falciparum from endemic areas at varying altitudes. Acta Tropica 102: 201-205 (2007).
Noland, GS, Graczyk, TK, Fried, B and Kumar, N. Enhanced malaria parasite transmission from helminth co-infected mice. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 76: 1052-56 (2007).
Bhattacharyya MK, BhattacharyyaneeDeb S, Jayabalasingham B, Kumar. Characterization of kinetics of DNA strand-exchange and ATP hydrolysis activities of recombinant PfRad51,a Plasmodium falciparum recombinase. Mol Biochem Parasitol 139:33-39, 2005. Abstract
Coban C, Ishii KJ, Kawai T, Hemmi H, Sato S, Uematsu S, Yamamoto M, Takeuchi O, Itagaki S, Kumar N, Horii T, Akira S. Toll-like receptor 9 mediates innate immune activation by the malaria pigment hemozoin. J Exp Med 3:201:19-25, 2005. Abstract
Coban C, Ishii KJ, Gursel M, Klinman D, Kumar N. Effect of plasmid backbone modification by different human CpG motifs on the immunogenicity of DNA vaccine vectors. J Leuck Biol 78:647-655, 2005. Article
Gaikwad S, Ashma R, Kumar N, Trivedi R, Kashyap VK. Host microsatellite alleles in malaria predisposition? Malar J 4:50, 2005. Article
Kalume DE, Okulate M, Zhong J, Reddy R, Suresh S, Deshpande N, Kumar N, Pandey A. A proteomic analysis of salivary glands of female Anopheles gambiae mosquito. Proteomics 5:3765-3777, 2005. Article
Kalume DE, Peri S, Reddy R, Zhong J,Okulate M, Kumar N, Pandey A. Genome annotation of Anopheles gambiae using mass spectrometry-derived data. BMC Genomics 19;6:128, 2005. Article
Nyunt M, Pisciotta J, Feldman AB, Thuma P, Scholl PF, Demirev PA, Lin JS, Shi L, Kumar N, Sullivan DJ. Detection of Plasmodium falciparum in pregnancy by laser desorption mass spectrometry. Am J Trop Med Hyg 73:485-490, 2005. Article
Page KR, Jedlicka AE, Fakheri B, Noland GS, Kesavan AK, Scott AL, Kumar N, Manabe YC. Mycobacterium-induced potentiation of type 1 immune responses and protection against malaria aAre host specific. Infect Immun 73:8369-8380, 2005. Article
Bhattacharyya M, Norris D, Kumar N. Molecular players of homologous recombination in protozoan parasites: implications for generating antigenic variation. Infect Genetics and Evol 4:91-98, 2004. Abstract
Coban C, Ishii K, Stowers A, Keister D, Klinmann D, Kumar N. Effect of CpG oligonucleotides on the immunogenicity of Pfs25, a Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking vaccine antigen. Inf Immun 72:584-588, 2004. Article
Coban C, Phillip M, Purcell JE, Keister D, Okulate M, Martin DS, Kumar N. Induction of Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking antibodies in nonhuman primates by a combination of DNA and protein immunizations. Inf Immun 72:253-259, 2004. Article
Kongkasuriyachai D, B-Andrews L, Stowers A, Collins WE, Sullivan J, Sattabongkot J, Torii M, Tsuboi T, Kumar N. Potent immunogenicity of DNA vaccines encoding Plasmodium vivax transmission-blocking vaccine candidates Pvs25 and Pvs28-evaluation of homologous and heterologous antigen-delivery prime-boost strategy. Vaccine 22:3205-3213, 2004. Abstract
Kongkasuriachai D, Fujioka H, Kumar N. Functional analysis of Plasmodium falciparum parasitophorous vacuole membrane protein (Pfs16) during gametocytogenesis and gametogenesis by targeted gene disruption. Mol Biochem Parasitol 133:275-285, 2004. Abstract
Kumar N. Guest Editor for a Thematic issue; Malaria: A grand challenge. Int J Parasitol 34:13-14, 2004.
Kumar N, Cha G, Pineda F, Maciel J, Haddad D, Bhattacharyya M, Nagayasu E. Molecular complexity of sexual development and gene regulation in Plasmodium falciparum. Int J Parasitol 34:1451-1458, 2004. Abstract
Scholl PF, Kongkasuriyachai D, Demirev PA, Feldman AB, Lin JS, Sullivan DJ Jr, Kumar N. Rapid detection of malaria infection in vivo by laser desorption mass spectrometry. Am J Trop Med Hyg 71:546-551, 2004. Abstract
Scott C, Kumar N, Bishai W, Manabe Y. Short Report: Modulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection by Plasmodium in the murine model. Am J Trop Med Hyg 70:144-148, 2004. Abstract
Bhattacharyya M, Kumar N. Identification and characterization of DNA damage induced expression of Plasmodium falciparum protein PfRad51. Int J Parasitol 32:1385-1392, 2003. Abstract
Coban C, Kumar N. Malaria DNA vaccines. Curr Trends in Immunol 5:19-31, 2003.
Dhar R, Kumar N. Role of mosquito salivary glands. Current Science 85:101-106, 2003.
Haddad D, Kumar N. The expanding universe of "Omes": approaches to malaria drugs and vaccine design. Recent Research Developments in Inf Immun 1:419-432, 2003.
Kashamuka M, Nzila N, Mussey L, Lubaki N, Quinn TC, Bollinger R, Kumar N. Short report: analysis of antimalaria immune response during human immunodeficiency virus infection in adults in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Am J Trop Med Hyg 68:376-378, 2003. Article
Sehgal A, Kumar N, Carruthers V, Sharma S. Translocation of ribosomal protein PO onto the Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoite surface. Int J Parasitol 33:1589-1594, 2003. Abstract
Sharma A, Sharma I, Kongkasuriachai D, Kumar N. Structure of a gametocyte protein essential for sexual development in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature (Str Biol) 10:197-203, 2003. Abstract
Bhattacharyya M, Hong Z, Kongkasuriyachai D, Kumar N. Plasmodium falciparum protein phosphatase Type 1 functionally complements a glc7 mutant in Saccharomyces cerevisea. Int J Parasitol 32:739-747, 2002. Abstract
Coban C, Ishii KJ, Sullivan DJ, Kumar N. Purified malaria pigment (hemozoin) enhances dendritic cell maturation and modulates the isotype of antibodies induced by a DNA vaccine. Inf Immun 70:3939-3943, 2002. Article
Demirev PA, Feldman AB, Kongkasuriyachai D, Scholl P, Sullivan D Jr, Kumar N. Detection of malaria parasites in blood by laser desorption mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 15;74:3262-3266, 2002. Abstract
Kongkasuriyachai D, Kumar N. Functional characterization of sexual stage-specific proteins in Plasmodium falciparum. Int J Parasitol 32:1559-1566, 2002. Abstract
Kumar N. Guest Editor for a Thematic issue; Malaria: progress, problems and plans in the genomic era. Int J Parasitol 32:1537-1538, 2002.
Sati SP, Singh SK, Kumar N, Sharma A. Extra terminal residues have a profound effect on the folding and solubility of a Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage-specific protein over-expressed in Eschericia coli. Eur J Biochem 269:5229-5263, 2002. Abstract
Singh SK, Sati SP, Kongkasuriyachai D, Kumar N, Sharma A. Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the sexual stag-specific protein Pfg27 from Plasmodium falciparum. Acta Crsytallographica D58:1869-1870, 2002.
Bhattacharyya M, Kumar N. Effect of xanthurenic acid on infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum to Anopheles stephensi. Int J Parasitol 31:1129-1133, 2001. Abstract
Sanchez G, Sedegah M, Rogers WO, Jones T, Sacci J, Witney A, Carucci D, Kumar N, Hoffman S. Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a Plasmodium yoelii Hsp60 DNA vaccine in BALB/c mice. Inf and Immun 69:3897-3905, 2001. Article
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