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 9/16/2025

    Urae S, Wang Z, Kumar S, Chen HA, Henderson JM, Beck LH, Borkan SC. Nucleophosmin (NPM) Promotes Regulated Cell Death in Podocyte Injury. Kidney360. 2025 Sep 16. PMID: 40956614.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/2/2025

    Shoushtari SI, Liaw E, Alluri S, Sheikh Z, Kumar S, Huynh C, Schmidt IM, Ness S, Chen X, Siegel NH, Waikar SS, Stein TD, Lu W, Subramanian ML. The Association Between SLIT2 in Human Vitreous Humor and Plasma and Neurocognitive Test Scores. bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 02. PMID: 40631316.

    Read at: PubMed

  • 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

View All 12 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

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

View all profiles