Sudhir Kumar, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

My long-term research goal is elucidating the cells and signals regulating kidney and urinary tract development. Specifically, I am interested in renin-expressing cells, pericytes, and podocyte biology and their role in kidney homeostasis and injury. I have extensive training in kidney developmental biology, mouse models for human diseases, molecular biology, molecular genetics, and veterinary medicine. I completed my PhD in mouse genetics from LMU Munich Germany. I did my postdoctoral training in Dr. Weining Lu’s lab at the Renal Section, Boston University Medical Campus. Currently, I am involved in different interdisciplinary research projects, which include: (1) the Role of Slit-Robo signaling in kidney development and podocyte biology and injury and (2) the role of transcription factor ZEB2 in kidney development and disease. In addition, I am also actively participating in mentoring and training Boston University graduate and undergraduate students.

Publications

  • Published 2/25/2025

    Kumar S, Fan X, Pattam H, Yan K, Liaw EJ, Ji J, Zaltz E, Song P, Jiang Y, Nishizaki Y, Higashi Y, Cai CL, Lu W. ZEB2 signaling is essential for ureteral smooth muscle cell differentiation and maintenance. bioRxiv. 2025 Feb 25. PMID: 40060690.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/16/2025

    Hayashi N, Kumar S, Trivin-Avillach C, Fan X, Stoddard SV, Akai R, Fujimoto K, Iwawaki T, Yokoyama H, Furuichi K, Beck LH. Characterization of FAM114A1: a novel podocyte cytoskeleton-associated protein upregulated in glomerular injury. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2025 Feb 01; 328(2):F289-F299. PMID: 39819080.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/10/2023

    Kumar S, Fan X, Rasouly HM, Sharma R, Salant DJ, Lu W. ZEB2 controls kidney stromal progenitor differentiation and inhibits abnormal myofibroblast expansion and kidney fibrosis. JCI Insight. 2023 Jan 10; 8(1). PMID: 36445780.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/24/2020

    Pisarek-Horowitz A, Fan X, Kumar S, Rasouly HM, Sharma R, Chen H, Coser K, Bluette CT, Hirenallur-Shanthappa D, Anderson SR, Yang H, Beck LH, Bonegio RG, Henderson JM, Berasi SP, Salant DJ, Lu W. Loss of Roundabout Guidance Receptor 2 (Robo2) in Podocytes Protects Adult Mice from Glomerular Injury by Maintaining Podocyte Foot Process Structure. Am J Pathol. 2020 04; 190(4):799-816. PMID: 32220420.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/17/2017

    Kumar S, Rathkolb B, Sabrautzki S, Krebs S, Kemter E, Becker L, Beckers J, Bekeredjian R, Brommage R, Calzada-Wack J, Garrett L, Hölter SM, Horsch M, Klingenspor M, Klopstock T, Moreth K, Neff F, Rozman J, Fuchs H, Gailus-Durner V, Hrabe de Angelis M, Wolf E, Aigner B. Standardized, systemic phenotypic analysis reveals kidney dysfunction as main alteration of Kctd1 I27N mutant mice. J Biomed Sci. 2017 Aug 17; 24(1):57. PMID: 28818080.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 10 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, PhD
  • Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), MVSc
  • Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), BVSc

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