Kumar, S.

Dr. Sushil Kumar

Assistant Professor

Phone: +(91-22) 2576 7775
E-mail: sushil.kumar [at] iitb.ac.in
Location: Room No. 404, BSBE Building
Lab web page
‪Sushil Kumar (Nehra) – ‪Google Scholar,
Sushil Kumar | Publons

Research Interest

Fundamental: Breast cancer biology; Computational modeling
Translational: Diagnostics (liquid biopsy); Therapeutics (Small molecule inhibitors)

Academic Background

  • B.Sc. (Biology): Govt. College, Sri Ganganagar, affiliated with Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan
  • M.Sc. (Life Sciences): School of Life Sciences, DAVV, Indore, M.P.
  • Ph.D. (Immunology and Cancer Biology): IISER Bhopal, Bhopal, M.P. with Prof. Himanshu Kumar

Professional Experience

  • Assistant Professor: School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay (May 2022 onwards)
  • Assistant Professor: School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Roorkee (Nov. 2021- May 2022)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow: School of Medicine, Uni of Pennsylvania (June 2019-Nov 2021), with Prof. Fiona Simpkins
  • Postdoctoral Fellow: School of Veterinary Medicine, Uni of Pennsylvania (June 2016-Nov 2019), with Prof. Rumela Chakrabarti

Memberships

  • Indian Association for Cancer Research (IACR)
  • European Association of Cancer Research (EACR)
  • Indian Society of Cell Biology

Editor/Reviewer responsibilities

  • Review Editor for the “Frontier in Molecular Biosciences” journal
  • Reviewer for Lancet EBioMedicine, STAR Protocols by Cell Press, International Reviews of Immunology, OncoTargets and Therapy, and Cancer Management and Research.
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Teaching (current)

Molecular Immunology, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Research Proposal, Integrated Lab of M.Sc. (iLab)

Research Grants

  • Understanding the functional… Seed Grant from IIT Bombay. Period: 2023-2025. Budget: 20 lakhs
  • Identification of multitarget… WRCB, IIT Bombay. Period: 2023-2025, budget: 15 lakhs.
  • A new world of cell-free… Nandan Nilekani Fund. Period: 2025-2030, budget: 240 lakhs.
  • Exploring the oncogenic role… ANRF under the ARG Scheme. Period: 2026-2029, budget: ~56 lakhs.
  • Development of a virus-free… NOHM-Department of Health Research (DHR). Period: 2026-2028, budget: ~98 lakhs.
  • Deciphering the regulatory variants… Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Period: 2026-2028, budget: 49.5 lakhs.

Present lab Member (s)

  • Dr. Naveen Kumar, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Dr. Ankita S. More, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Ms. Sumana Paul, Ph.D. student
  • Ms. Himanshu, Ph.D. student
  • Mr. Umesh Singh, Ph.D. student
  • Ms. Jennifer Darrimawi, Ph.D. student
  • Ms. Susmita Sah, Ph.D. student
  • Mr. Vaishnav M, Ph.D. student
  • Mr. Ansh Singh, Ph.D. student
  • Ms. Aditti Sharma, Ph.D. student
  • Ms. Prajna Parimita Nayak, M.Sc. Student
  • Mr. Ravi Kumawat, M.Sc. Student
  • Mr. Deepdas Gupta, M.Sc. Student
  • Mr. Ranadeep Dutta, M.Sc Student

Publications (More)

With the affiliation of IIT Bombay

  1. Simran Tolani, Nitesh Tripathi, Himanshu Antil, Sourav Ghosh, Debarghya Mitra, Anirban Banerjee, Sushil Kumar, Anupam Bandyopadhyay, and Ashutosh Kumar. Conformationally restrained de novo Peptides to modulate Skp1-Skp2 Interaction of the SCF E3 Ligase. RSC Medicinal Chemistry.
  2. Pinky Chauhan, Himanshu Antil, Sushil Kumar*, Mangalampalli Ravikanth*. Synthesis, structure, and properties of Pt(ii) α-pyrrolyl dipyrrin complexes that exhibit anticancer activities. Dalton Transactions (2026). *Corresponding authors.
  3. Mamta Singh, Anubha Yadav, Umesh Singh, Rajat Gupta, Enrico Amedeo Cavarzerani, Vincenzo Canzonieri, Deepraj Negi, Akansha Dagar, Bharathwaj Sathyamoorthy, Flavio Rizzolio, Sushil Kumar, Ankur Baliyan, Vinit Kumar. Nature-inspired MYC Inhibitor Disrupts MYC-driven Glycolysis and Restricts Ovarian Tumor Growth. Journal ChemMedChem (2025).
  4. Gurminder Singh, Sushil Kumar, Kevin Walsh, Colin McMahon, William Ronan, Eoin O’Cearbhaill. Additive Manufacturing via Rotational-Axis Fused Filament Fabrication of Poly L-Lactic Acid-based Bioabsorbable Stent: Morphology, Mechanical, Degradation and Biocompatibility Properties. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2025).
  5. Tanusri Roy, Swetlana Ghosh, Niyati Piplani, Lakshmi Sthanam, Niharika Tiwary, Sayak Dhar, W. Chingmei Konyak, Santosh Panigrahi, Priya Singh, Divya Tej Sowpati, Sreelaja Nair, Sushil Kumar, P. Chandra Shekar, Shamik Sen. Nuclear compression-mediated DNA damage drives ATR-dependent Lamin expression and mouse ESC differentiation. Nucleic Acids Research (2025).
  6. Amlan Barai, Niyati Piplani, Sumon Kumar Saha, Sarbajeet Dutta, V Gomathi, Mayank M Ghogale, Sushil Kumar, Madhura Kulkarni, Shamik Sen. Bulky glycocalyx drives cancer invasiveness by modulating substrate-specific adhesion. PNAS nexus, 3 (8) 2024.
  7. Sumana Paul, Saikat Ghosh, and Sushil Kumar*. Tumor glycolysis, an essential sweet tooth of tumor cells. Seminars in Cancer Biology, 86, 3 (2022). *Corresponding author.

Postdoctoral publications

  1. Sarah B Gitto et al., A B7-H4–Targeting Antibody–Drug Conjugate Shows Antitumor Activity in PARPi and Platinum-Resistant Cancers with B7-H4 Expression. Clinical Cancer Research, 2023.
  2. Sushil Kumar et al., Dll1+ quiescent tumor stem cells drive chemo-resistance in breast cancer through NF-κβ survival pathway. Nature Communications, 2021.
  3. Christoforos Thomas et al., Estrogen receptor β-mediated inhibition of actin-based cell migration suppresses metastasis of inflammatory breast cancer. Cancer Research 2021.
  4. Snahlata Singh et al., Loss of ELF5–FBXW7 stabilizes IFNGR1 to promote the growth and metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer through interferon-γ signaling. Nature Cell Biology 2020.
  5. Hyoung Kim et al., Combination PARP and ATR inhibition causes complete and durable responses in PARP inhibitor and platinum resistant ovarian cancer. Nature Communications 2020.
  6. Sushil Kumar et al., Estrogen-dependent DLL1-mediated Notch signaling promotes luminal breast cancer. Oncogene, 2019.
  7. Sushil Kumar et al., Inducible knockout of ∆Np63 alters cell polarity and metabolism during pubertal mammary gland development. FEBS Letters 2019.
  8. Sushil Kumar et al., DeltaNp63-driven recruitment of myeloid-derived suppressor cells promotes metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2018.
  9. Rumela Chakrabarti et al., Notch ligand Dll1 mediates cross-talk between mammary stem cells and the macrophageal niche. Science 2018.

Ph.D. research  

  1. Ashish Kumar et al., MicroRNA hsa-miR-324-5p Suppresses H5N1 Virus Replication by Targeting the Viral PB1 and Host CUEDC2. Journal of Virology 2018.
  2. Harshad Ingle#, Sushil Kumar# et al., The microRNA miR-485 targets host and influenza virus transcripts to regulate antiviral immunity and restrict viral replication. Science Signaling 2015. #Equally contributing first authors.
  3. Sushil Kumar et al., IPS-1 differentially induces TRAIL, BCL2, BIRC3 and PRKCE in type I interferon-dependent and -independent anticancer activity. Cell Death & Disease 2015.
  4. Sushil Kumar, et al., Recognition of bacterial infection by innate immune sensors. Critical reviews in microbiology 2015. “The most cited and most read article” of the journal.

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