See more COVID-19 Research Symposium Leadership

Prof. Kumar and his group are involved in areas of research that lie at the interface of chemistry and biology. The main goal of the research is to use chemical and biological methods to create novel and functional molecules that allows us to understand the mechanism of, and/or control biological processes. His group uses the traditional techniques of organic chemistry, such as synthesis and spectroscopy, of biological chemistry, such as recombinant DNA technology, protein purification and enzyme kinetics, and of biophysics, including investigation of protein structure in membranes. Current projects in his laboratory focus on: De novo protein design and evolution; Combating bacterial resistance to antibiotics;  Understanding the origin of the intron-exon gene structure of modern day enzymes; Catalysis by small molecules and peptides; and Design of membrane protein architectures for specialized functions.