SK

Subodh Kumar

Office of Faculty Development, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research

ORCID iD 0000-0003-4705-122X
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About

My life goal is to do something meaningful for the Alzheimer’s community in-terms of developing an advance biomarker and discovering better therapeutics to prevent and treat the Alzheimer’s disease.
I completed my Ph.D. from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, the second-best medical institute in India. My undergraduate training was in microRNA biology and hepatitis C virus pathology, where I found miRNA-122 as a potential serum biomarker for hepatitis C virus patients. To expand my expertise in Alzheimer’s disease, I joined Dr. Hemachandra Reddy lab at the Garrison Institute on Aging at Texas Tech Health Science Center (TTUHSC) in Lubbock, Texas. Since the status of miRNAs are not well studied in peripheral circulation in Alzheimer’s patients my research project focused on the peripheral circulatory microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We identified miR-455-3p as one of the potential miRNAs found to be upregulated in AD cases relative to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls. We validated our findings on different AD sources including serum, brain, cerebrospinal fluid, fibroblasts, B-lymphocytes, AD cell lines, and AD mouse models. We also identified the role of miR-455-3p in the regulation of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) processing, mitochondrial biogenesis, and synaptic activity. As a postdoc fellow, I published 22 articles in high impact journals including Redox Biology, Human Molecular Genetics, Journal of Alzheimer’s disease, Genomic Medicine, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, and Aging Research Reviews, etc. As an outcome of my postdoc research project, my PI received a NIH R56 grant in 2019, a NIH R01 grant in 2022, and published a U.S. patent (US 11,492,669).
In September 2020, I received the Pathway to Independence Career Development Award (K99/R00) from the National Institute on Aging, NIH for five years (University’s first recipient). I joined TTUHSC El Paso as a tenure track Assistant Professor in 2022 and received an R00 grant. My research interests are in the areas of neuroscience, Alzheimer’s disease, MicroRNA Biology, aging and other neurodegenerative diseases. My lab’s research is focused on synapse microRNAs and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I investigate synapse-centered microRNAs (miRNAs), known as synaptosomal miRNA (syn-miRs), and their roles in AD pathogenesis. Active synapses are essential for synaptic health. The molecular and cellular components of synapses are crucial for neurotransmission and maintaining healthy synaptic and cognitive functions. Synapse loss and synaptic dysfunction are key pathological hallmarks of AD and other neurological disorders. Specific miRNAs localized at synapses directly modulate local protein synthesis and are involved in multiple synaptic functions, including synaptic plasticity. However, the precise roles of synaptosome-specific miRNAs in AD progression and in neurodegenerative diseases are not yet fully understood. For the first time, my lab discovered synapse-localized miRNAs in the normal human brain and identified their deregulation in AD brains. Our microarray and integrated multi-omics analysis of synaptosomes revealed novel synapse-centered targets in AD postmortem brains. Currently, my lab is investigating the impact of these synaptosomal miRNAs on synaptic function, synapse mitochondrial function, neurotransmission, and cognitive function using AD mouse models (5XFAD, Tg2576, P301L) and wild-type mice. We are utilizing multidisciplinary approaches, including cell and molecular biology techniques, stereotaxic surgery for lentiviral miRNA injections into the hippocampus and cortex for miRNA overexpression and suppression, cognitive behavior assessments, mass spectrometry for synaptic protein profiling, mRNA sequencing for synaptic gene analysis, micro transplantation for GABA and glutamate neurotransmitters, Golgi-Cox staining for dendritic spine density assessment, transmission electron microscopy for mitochondrial morphology, protein biochemistry, patch-clamp analysis, and miRNA transgenic and knockout mouse models. We are also investigating the therapeutic and biomarker potential of synapse miRNAs using various AD sources, including postmortem brains, cerebrospinal fluid, serum, fibroblasts, and B-lymphocyte samples from AD patients and controls.
As an independent investigator, in the past three years, my lab has published several articles in high impact journals such as Molecular Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Medicine, Molecular Neurobiology, Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acid, Journal of Alzheimer’s disease and Aging Research Reviews as a corresponding author, three book chapters and four collaborative research articles. I dedicated my research to the Alzheimer’s community, to develop the better biomarker for disease detection and synapse based novel therapeutic approaches to improve the lives of Alzheimer’s patients.

Employment

  • Office of Faculty Development, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Assistant Professor
    2022 - Present
  • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Research Assistant Professor
    2021 - Present

Education

  • Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research PhD
    2009 - 2013

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (50)