Dr Rajender Kumar

Profile

• Dr. Rajender Kumar was born on August 2, 1968.
• Matriculation from Govt. High School, Pabnawa, District Kaithal, Haryana, in 1984.
• Pre-Medical from University College, Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra University, in 1986.
• B.V.Sc. & A.H. from College of Veterinary Sciences, Hisar, in 1991.
• M.V.Sc. in Veterinary Parasitology from C.C.S. Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, in 1993.
• Ph.D. in Veterinary Parasitology from C.C.S. Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, in 1999.

Employment Record

• Joined as Scientist, Veterinary Parasitology, in ICAR on 22.03.1996 at NAARM, Hyderabad.
• Served as Scientist from 1996 to 2000 at National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan.
• Served as Scientist Sr. Scale from 2000 to 2003 at National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan.
• Served as Scientist Sr. Scale from 2003 to 2005 at National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar.
• Served as Sr. Scientist from 2005 to 2011 at National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar.
• Presently serving as Principal Scientist cum National Fellow, ICAR, at National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar, Haryana.

Awards / Honours / Membership of Professional Societies

• National Scholarship from 1984 to 1991.
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research Junior Research Fellowship from 1991 to 1993 during M.V.Sc.
• Dr. K.S. Krishnan Senior Research Fellowship by Department of Atomic Energy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, during Ph.D.
• Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Award for outstanding Post Graduate Agricultural Research 2000 in Veterinary Parasitology by Indian Council of Agricultural Research on July 16, 2001, at New Delhi.
• Awarded Prof. B.V. Rao Gold Medal 1997 for best research article published in Indian Veterinary Journal by Indian Veterinary Association.
• Awarded National Fellow w.e.f. 08.04.2011.
• Life member of Indian Science Congress Association.
• Life member of Indian Veterinary Association.
• Life member of Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Research.
• Life member of Indian Society for Parasitology.
• Life member of Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology.
• Life member of National Academy on Vector-Borne Diseases.
• Life member of Acarological Society of India.
• Life member of Agricultural Research Service Scientists Forum.

Specific Area of Interest

• Molecular biology.
• Host-parasite interaction.
• Immunodiagnosis of equine protozoan diseases.
• Animal trypanosomosis.
• Equine piroplasmosis.

Ongoing Research Projects

• Development of sensitive and specific diagnostic assays for detection of Trypanosoma evansi infection in animals using modern molecular tools. Principal Investigator. ICAR Funded.
• Evaluation of in vitro growth inhibitory efficacy of some novel synthetic drug molecules against Theileria equi haemoprotozoa. Co-investigator. ICAR Funded.
• Epidemiological studies on exotic, emerging and existing equine diseases. Co-investigator. ICAR Funded.
• DBT-NER Centre for Advanced Animal Diagnostics and Services on Animal Health and Diseases, ADSAHD. Co-investigator. DBT Funded.

Recently Completed Research Projects

• Development of diagnostic tests for equine trypanosomosis, surra. As Principal Investigator.
• OIE twinning programme for Equine Piroplasmosis between National Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan and National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar, India. As Co-investigator.
• Cysteine proteinase, a defined antigen of T. evansi for control of Trypanosomosis. As Co-investigator.
• Development of sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for detection of equine piroplasmosis. As Co-investigator.
• DBT project on development of sensitive and specific diagnostics and relevance of heat shock proteins in control of T. evansi infection in animals. Co-investigator.
• DST project on synthesis, characterization and evaluation of drug loaded nano-formulations against Trypanosoma evansi in animal model. Co-investigator.

Patents Filed

• Polynucleotide sequence, processes, composition and methods thereof. Application No. 1575/CHE/2010, dated 08.06.2010. Inventors: Utpal Tatu, Rani Pallavi, Suresh Chandra Yadav, Raj Kumar Singh and Rajender Kumar.
• Nano-drug delivery for quinapyramine sulphate. Application No. 2560/DEL/2011, dated 06.09.2011. NRCE, Hisar and GJUS&T, Hisar. Inventors: Anju Manuja, Neeraj Dilbaghi, Sandeep Kumar, Harmanmeet Kaur, Gaurav Bhanjana, Rajender Kumar, Balvinder Kumar and S.C. Yadav.
• A highly sensitive kit for detection of antibodies against Theileria equi in serum of equids. Application No. 2763/DEL/2012, dated 06.09.2012. Inventors: Sanjay Kumar, Rajender Kumar, Ashok Kumar Gupta and Suresh Chandra Yadav.

Important Publications

• Singh, N., Pathak, K.M.L., Kumar, R. and Manohar, G.S. 2003. Observations on the validity of mouse inoculation test in the surveillance of Trypanosoma evansi in camel. Journal of Camel Practice and Research 10(2):153-155.
• Singh, N., Pathak, K.M.L. and Kumar, R. 2004. A comparative evaluation of parasitological, serological and DNA amplification methods for diagnosis of natural Trypanosoma evansi infection in camels. Veterinary Parasitology 126:365-373.
• Singh, N., Pathak, K.M.L. and Kumar, R. 2004. Epidemiology and diagnosis of surra, Trypanosoma evansi, in camels: a review. Journal of Camel Practice and Research 11(1):39-50.
• Singh, N., Pathak, K.M.L., Chaudri, S.S. and Kumar, R. 2007. Cameline trypanosomosis, surra, in dromedaries of Western Rajasthan, India. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 77:718-720.
• Kumar, S. and Kumar, R. 2007. Diagnosis of Babesia equi infection: an update on the methods available. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 2(035):14.
• Kumar, S., Kumar, R., Gupta, A.K. and Dwivedi, S.K. 2008. Passive transfer of Theileria equi antibodies to neonate foals of immune tolerant mares. Veterinary Parasitology 151:80-85.
• Roy, N., Nageshan, R.K., Pallavi, R., Chakravarthy, H., Chandran, S., Kumar, R., Gupta, A.K., Singh, R.K., Yadav, S.C. and Tatu, U. 2010. Proteomics of Trypanosoma evansi infection in rodents. PLoS One 5(3):e9796.
• Pallavi, R., Roy, N., Nageshan, R.K., Talukdar, P., Pavithra, S.R., Reddy, R., Venketesh, S., Kumar, R., Gupta, A.K., Singh, R.K., Yadav, S.C. and Tatu, U. 2010. Heat shock protein 90 as a drug target against protozoan infections. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285(49):37964-37975.
• Yadav, S.C., Kumar, R., Kumar, S., Tatu, U., Singh, R.K. and Gupta, A.K. 2011. Identification and characterization of cysteine proteinases of Trypanosoma evansi. Parasitology Research 109(3):559-565.
• Yadav, S.C., Kumar, R., Kumar, V., Jaideep, Gupta, A.K., Bera, B.C. and Tatu, U. 2013. Identification of immuno-dominant antigens of Trypanosoma evansi for detection of chronic trypanosomosis using experimentally infected equines. Research in Veterinary Science 95:522-528.
• Kumar, R., Kumar, S., Khurana, S.K. and Yadav, S.C. 2013. Development of an antibody-ELISA and its application for seroprevalence of Trypanosoma evansi in equids of North and North-western region of India. Veterinary Parasitology 196:251-257.
• Kumar, R., Singh, J., Singh, R., Kumar, S. and Yadav, S.C. 2013. Comparative efficacy of different in vitro cultivation conditions for Trypanosoma evansi strains isolated from different mammalian hosts inhabiting different geographical areas of India. Journal of Parasitic Diseases.
• Kumar, S., Kumar, R., Gupta, A.K., Yadav, S.C., Goyal, S., Khurana, S.K. and Singh, R.K. 2013. Development of EMA-2 recombinant antigen based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for sero-epidemiological studies of Theileria equi infection in Indian equine population. Veterinary Parasitology 198:10-17.
• Ranjithkumar, M., Saravanan, B.C., Yadav, S.C., Kumar, R., Singh, R., Malik, T.A. and Dey, S. 2013. Neurological trypanosomiasis in quinapyramine sulfate-treated horses: a breach of the blood brain barrier? Tropical Animal Health Production.
• Malik, P., Singha, H., Goyal, S.K., Khurana, S.K., Kumar, R., Virmani, N., Shanmugasundaram, K., Pandey, S.B., Ravi Kant, Singh, B.K. and Singh, R.K. 2013. Sero-surveillance of equine infectious anemia virus in equines in India during more than a decade, 1999-2012. Indian Journal of Virology 24(3):386-390.
• Yadav, S.C., Kumar, R., Manuja, A., Goyal, L. and Gupta, A.K. 2014. Early detection of Trypanosoma evansi infection and monitoring of antibody levels by ELISA following treatment. Journal of Parasitic Diseases 38:124-127.
• Saini, V.K., Singh, J., Kaushik, J., Sarkhel, S.P., Kumar, S., Yadav, S.C., Gupta, A.K. and Kumar, R. 2014. Characterization of Trypanosoma evansi isolates of different livestock hosts and agro-ecological zones of India by microsatellite genotyping. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 84:732-735.
• Manuja, A., Dilbaghi, N., Bhanjana, G., Chopra, M., Kaur, H., Kumar, R., Kumar, B., Yadav, S.C., Singh, S.K. and Kumar, S. 2013. Quinapyramine sulphate-loaded sodium alginate nanoparticles shows enhanced trypanocidal activity. Nanomedicine.
• Kumar, R. and Sharma, P. 2014. Dourine: diagnosis, control and eradication strategies. Indian Farming 64:16, 18.
• Kumar, R., Kumar, S., Virmani, N. and Yadav, S.C. 2015. Transplacental transmission of Trypanosoma evansi from experimentally donkey mare to neonatal foal. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 35:337-341.
• Bhagwan, J., Kumar, A., Kumar, R., Goyal, L., Goel, P. and Kumar, S. 2015. Molecular evidence of Theileria equi infection in Hyalomma anatolicum ticks infested on sero-positive Indian horses. Acta Parasitologica 60:322-329.
• Kumar, J., Chaudhury, A., Bera, B.C., Kumar, Ritesh, Kumar, R., Tatu, U. and Yadav, S.C. 2015. Production and preliminary evaluation of Trypanosoma evansi HSP70 for antibody detection in equids. Acta Parasitologica 60:727-734.
• Gopalakrishnan, A., Maji, C., Dahiya, R.K., Suthar, A., Kumar, R. and Kumar, S. 2015. Oxidative damage inflicted by Theileria equi on horse erythrocytes when cultured in vitro by microaerophilous stationary phase technique. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 35:763-767.
• Kumar, Sandeep, Rakha, N.K., Goyal, L., Goel, P., Kumar, R., Kumar, A. and Kumar, S. 2015. Diagnosis of Theileria equi by ELISA using recombinant equine merozoite surface antigen-1, EMA-1. Japanese Journal of Veterinary Science 63:129-137.
• Kumar, R., Sharma, P., Gaur, D.K., Goyal, S.K. and Kumar, S. 2015. Genetic differentiation among Trypanosoma evansi isolates of different livestock hosts by random primer DNA typing. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 85:1205-1208.
• Manuja, A., Kumar, B., Chopra, M., Bajaj, A., Kumar, R., Dilbaghi, N., Kumar, S., Singh, S., Riyesh, T. and Yadav, S.C. 2016. Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of a trypanocidal drug quinapyramine sulfate loaded-sodium alginate nanoparticles in mammalian cells. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 88:146-155.
• Kumar, R., Gaur, D.K., Goyal, S.K., Sharma, P., Kankar, S.K., Shikha, J. and Kumar, S. 2016. Sensitive detection of Trypanosoma evansi infection by polymerase chain reaction targeting invariable surface glycoprotein gene. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 86(6):639-642.
• Kumar, R., Sharma, P., Gaur, D.K. and Jain, S. 2016. Recent development in identification of potential novel therapeutic targets against trypanosomatids. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 16(20):2303-2315.
• Gopalakrishnan, A., Maji, C., Dahiya, R.K., Suthar, A., Kumar, R., Gupta, A.K., Dimri, U. and Kumar, S. 2016. In vitro growth inhibitory efficacy of some target specific novel drug molecules against Theileria equi. Veterinary Parasitology 217:1-6.
• Singh, S., Chopra, M., Dilbaghi, N., Kumar, B., Kumar, S., Kumar, R., Ratore, N.S., Yadav, S.C. and Manuja, A. 2016. Synthesis and evaluation of isometamidium-alginate nanoparticles on equine mononuclear and red blood cells. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 92:788-794.