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Nirbhay Kumar
Professor and Chair
Department of Tropical Medicine
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1440 Canal Street, Suite 2210
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone 504.988.2577
Fax 504.988.7313
nkumar@tulane.edu
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Research Interests:
Immunobiology of malaria transmission; Transmission blocking vaccine; Immune memory in malaria; Recombination mechanisms in Plasmodium; Helminth – Plasmodium co-infections; Animal models for human malaria vaccines; Parasite-vector interactions.
Educational Background:
- B.Sc., Agra University, India, 1970
- M.Sc., Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, 1972
- Ph.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India, 1977
Professional Achievements:
- 2004-present Scientific Advisory Board, Institute of Bioinformatics, Bangalore, India
- 2004, 2005 Symposium co-chair and invited speakers in different symposia at the ASTMH meeting
- 2004 Organizing Secretary, International Workshop on Malaria Biology and Genomics, Karpagam Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, TN, India
- 2005-present Member, ASM- International Education Committee (Indo-US Professorship (IPP/I-US Review Committee)
- 2005, 2008 Temporary Advisor, WHO (MALVAC-VRI) 2006-2009 Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, NIH, NIAID- MR4.
- 2007, 2010 Co-organizer of Indo-US Science Forum Workshop on Parasite Immunity and Conference on Infectious Diseases, respectively, India
- 2007, 2009 Co-organizer of a special JHMRI symposium at the ASTMH meeting, Philadelphia.
- 2009-present Member, Scientific Advisory Board, DxNA, St. Goerge, Utah
Selected Publications:
Brennan, J. G.D., Kent, M., Dhar, R., Fujioka, H. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Anopheles gambiae salivary gland proteins as putative targets for blocking transmission of malaria parasites. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 97, 13859-13864 (2000).
Kashamuka, M., Nzila , N., Mussey, L., Lubaki. N., Quinn , T.C., Bollinger, R. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Analysis of anti-malaria immune response during human immunodeficiency virus infection in adults in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 68: 376-378 (2002).
Dhar Ravi and Kumar Nirbhay. Role of mosquito salivary gland. CURRENT SCIENCE, 85: 101-106 (2003).
Kumar, Nirbhay. Malaria –A grand Challenge. Int. J. Parasitol. 34: iii-iv (Preface, 2004).
Nyunt M, Pisciotta, J, Feldman, AF, Thuma, P, Scholl, PF, Demirev, PA, Lin, JS, Shi, L., Kumar, Nirbhay, Sullivan, DJ. Detection of Plasmodium falciparum in pregnancy by laser desorption mass spectrometry. Am. Trop. Med. Hyg. 73: 485-490(2005), Including an editorial in the same issue.
Kalume, D. E., Okulate, M., Zhong, J., Reddy, R., Suresh. S., Deshpande, N., Kumar, Nirbhay and Pandey, A. A proteomic analysis of salivary glands of female Anopheles gambiae mosquito. Proteomics. 5: 3765-3777 (2005).
Kalume, D.E., Suraj, P., Zhong, Okulate, M., Surendranath, V., Kumar, Nirbhay., Pandey, A. Genome annotation using mass spectrometry-derived data. BMC Genomics 6: (2005).
Gaikwad, G, Richa Ashma, Nirbhay Kumar, Rajni Trivedi, V K Kashyap. 2005. Host microsatellite alleles in malaria predisposition? Malaria Journal. 4:50 (2005).
Coban, C., Ishii, K.J., Kawaii, T., Hemmi, H., Sato, S., Uematsu, S., Yamamoto, M., Takeuchi, O., Itagaki, S., Kumar, Nirbhay, Horii, T., Akira, S. Toll-like receptor 9-mediated innate immune activation by malaria pigment hemozoin. J. Exp. Med. 201: 19-25 (2005).
Noland, G., Graczyk, T., Fried, B., Fitzgerald, E., Kumar, Nirbhay. Exacerbation of Plasmodium yoelii malaria in Echinostoma caproni infected mice and abatement through anthelmintic treatment. J. Parasitol. 91: 944-948 (2005).
Page, KP, Jedlicka, AE, Fakheri, B, Noland, GS, Kesavan, AK, Scott, AL, Kumar, Nirbhay, Manabe, Y. Mycobaterium-induced potentiation of type 1 immune responses and protection against malaria are host specific. Infection & Immunity. 73: 8369-80 (2005).
Coban, C, Ishii, KJ, Gursel, M, Klinman, D and Kumar, Nirbhay. Effect of plasmid backbone modification by different human CpG motifs on the immunogenicity of DNA vaccine vectors. J. Leuck. Biol. 78: 647-655 (2005).
Bhattacharyya, M. K., Bhattacharyya, S., Jayabalasingham, B. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Characterization of kinetics of DNA-strand exchange and ATP hydrolysis activities of Plasmodium falciparum recombinase PfRad51, Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 139: 33-39 (2005).
Haddad, D, Maciel, J and Kumar, Nirbhay. Infection with Plasmodium berghei boosts antibody responses primed by a DNA vaccine encoding gametocyte antigen Pbs48/45. Infection & Immunity. 74: 2043-2051 (2006).
Mlambo, G., Mutambu, S.L., Mdoluza, T, Soko, W., Mbedzi, J., Chivenga, J., Lanar, D. E., Singh, S., Carucci, D., Germpeli, A., Kumar, Nirbhay. Antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens in three areas distinct with respect to altitude. Acta Tropica 10: 70-78 (2006).
Cernetich, A., Garver, L.S., Jedlicka, A.E., Klein, P.W., Kumar, Nirbhay, Scott, A.L. and Sabra L. Klein, S.L. Sex differences in response to blood-stage malaria infection: involvement of gonadal steroids and IFN?. Infection & Immunity 74: 3190-3203 (2006).
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 16: 711-722 (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).
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, Nirbhay. Enhanced malaria parasite transmission from helminth co-infected mice. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 76: 1052-56 (2007).
Urban, JF, Steenhard, N, S-Aguilar, GI, Dawson, HD, Iweala, OI, Nagler, CR, Noland, GS, Kumar, Nirbhay, Anthony, RM, S-Donohue, T, Weinstock, J, Gause, WC. Infection with parasitic nematodes confounds vaccination efficacy. Veterinary Parasitology. 148: 14-20 (2007, Invited Review).
Kumar, Nirbhay. A vaccine to prevent transmission of human malaria: a long way to travel on a dusty and often bumpy road. Current Science. 92: 1535-1543 (Invited review for special section on Malaria, 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).
Yangjian Liu, Dominique Promeneur, Aleksandra Rojek, Nirbhay Kumar, Jørgen Frøkiær, Søren Nielsen, Landon S. King, Peter Agre, and Jennifer M. Carbrey. Aquaporin 9 is the major pathway for glycerol uptake by mouse erythrocytes, with implications for malarial virulence. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104: 12560-64 (2007).
Ellekvist, E., Jorge Maciel, Godfree Mlambo, Christina H. Ricke, Hanne Colding, Dan A. Klaerke, and Nirbhay Kumar. Critical role of a K+ channel in Plasmodium berghei transmission revealed by targeted gene disruption. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105: 6398-6402 (2008).
Mahajan, B, Selvapandiyan, A, Gerald, NJ, Majam, V, Zheng, H, Tiwari, J, Fujioka, H, Moch, JK, Kumar, Nirbhay, Nakhashi, HL, Kumar, S. Centrins, cell cycle regulation proteins in human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 31871-83 (2008).
LeBlanc, R, Vasquez, Y, Hannaman, D and Kumar, Nirbhay. Markedly enhanced immunogenicity of a Pfs25 DNA based malaria transmission blocking vaccine by in vivo electroporation. Vaccine 26: 185-192 (2008).
Mlambo, G, Maciel, J and Kumar, Nirbhay. Development of a mouse model to evaluate malaria transmission blocking vaccines using a transgenic Plasmodium berghei expressing target antigen Pfs25. Infection & Immunity, 76: 2018-2024 (2008).
Mlambo, G. and Kumar, Nirbhay. Transgenic rodent Plasmodium berghei: tools for assessment of functional immunogenicity and optimization of human malaria vaccines. Eukaryotic CELL. 7: 1875-1979 (2008).
Mlambo, G, Vasquez, Y, LeBlanc, E, Sullivan, D, Kumar, Nirbhay. An RT-PCR based detection of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes using blood collected on filter papers. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 78: 114-116 (2008).
Midzi N, Sangweme D, Zinyowera S, Mapingure MP, Brouwer KC, Munatsi A, Mutapi F, Mudzore J, Kumar Nirbhay, Woelk G, Mduluza T. The burden of polyparasitism among primary school children living in rural and commercial farming areas of Zimbabwe. Trans. Roy. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 102: 1039-1045 (2008).
Midzi N, Sangweme D, Zinyowera S, Mapingure MP, Brouwer KC, Kumar Nirbhay , Mutapi F,Woelk G, Mduluza T. Efficacy and side effects of praziquantel treatment against Schistosoma haematobium infection among primary school children in Zimbabwe. Trans. Roy. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 102: 759-766 (2008).
Noland, G. S., Joseph F. Urban, Jr., Bernard Fried, Nirbhay Kumar. Counter-regulatory anti-parasite cytokine responses during concurrent Plasmodium yoelii and intestinal helminth infections in mice. Experimental Parasitology 119: 272-278 (2008).
Sangweme, D., Shiff, C and Kumar, Nirbhay. Adverse outcome of nonlethal Plasmodium yoelii malaria during co-infection with Schistosoma mansoni in a mouse model. Experimental Parasitology. 122: 254-259 (2009).
Ghosh, AK, Martin Devenport, Deepa Jethwaney, Dario E. Kalume, Akhilesh Pandey, Vernon E. Anderson, Ali A. Sultan, Nirbhay Kumar, and Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena. Malaria parasite invasion of the mosquito salivary gland requires interaction between the Plasmodium trap and the Anopheles Saglin proteins. Plos Pathogen.5 (1):e100265 (Jan. 2009).
Nyunt, MM, Hendrix, CW, Bakhshi, R, Kumar, Nirbhay, Shapiro, TA. Phase I/II evaluation of the prophylactic antimalarial activity of pafuramidine in health volunteers challenged with Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 80: 528 (2009).
Chen, X, Xie, S, Kumar, Nirbhay., Shapiro, T. and Liu, J. Fumagillin and Fumarranol interact with P. falciparum methionine aminopeptidase 2 and inhibit parasite growth in vitro and in vivo. Chemistry & Biology, 16: 193-202 (2009).
Chowdhury, RD., Angov, E, Kariuki, T, and Kumar, Nirbhay. A Potent Malaria Transmission Blocking Vaccine Based on Codon Harmonized Full Length Pfs48/45 Expressed in E. coli. Plos ONE: 4: 36352 (2009).
Moon, DK, Singhal, V. Kumar, Nirbhay and Posner, G.H. Antimalarial Preclinical Drug Development: A Single Dose of a 5-Carbon-linked Trioxane Dimer Plus Mefloquine Cures Malaria-infected Mice. Journal: Drug Development Research (Special Issue on Malaria, invited submission), in press (2009).
Lauren E. Woodard, L.E., Mott, B.T., Singhal, V., Kumar, Nirbhay, Shapiro, T.A. and Posner, G.H. Malaria-Infected Mice Are Cured by a Single Low Dose of a New Silylamide Trioxane Plus Mefloquine. Pharamaceuticals, 2:228-235 (2009).
Chipeta, J, Mharakurwa, S., Thuma, P., Kumar, Nirbhay. A synopsis of current malaria diagnosis trends. Med. J. Zambia. 36L: (2009).
Noland, G, Chowdhury, D, Urban, J., Fried, B and Kumar Nirbhay. Reduced immunogenicity of a malaria subunit vaccine in helminth infected mice. Vaccine. 28: 2917-2923 (2010).
Mlambo, G, Kumar, N., Yoshida, S. Functional immunogenicity of baculovirus expressing Pfs25, a human malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate antigen. Vaccine , 28: 7025-9 (2010)
Sangweme, DS, Midzi, N, Mutapuri, S, Mduluza, T, Diener-West, M & Kumar, N. Impact of schistosome infections on Plasmodium falciparum malariometeic índices and immune correlates in school age children in Burma Valley, Zimbabwe. PLos NTD 4: e882 (2010).
Personal Statement:
Dr. Kumar's studies focus on the biochemistry, molecular biology and immunology of antigens expressed in the sexual stages of malaria parasite and host-parasite interaction. Some of the major projects currently include: (i) molecular mechanisms of sexual differentiation in Plasmodium, (ii) the development of a malaria transmission blocking vaccine, (iii) molecular characterization of malarial ‘recombinosome’ and role of Rad51 and dmc1, (iv) immune- and molecular epidemiology of malaria studies in Zimbabwe and Zambia, (v) malaria and helminth co-infections in mouse models and in humans, (vi) sporozoite – salivary gland interactions, (vii) determinants of malaria transmission success, (viii) K+ channels and malaria transmission, (ix) malaria specific memory B cell responses, (x) development of transgenic murine malaria parasites as tools to investigate transmission blocking vaccines.
Level of Instruction:
graduate
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