Krishna Kumar Ph.D is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Tufts University in Medford, MA. Dr. Kumar has received several awards including the National Science Foundation's CAREER award and the DuPont Young Professor Award. He received his Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from Brown University. He has several patents and publications to his credit. Born in Chennai, India, he received his bachelor's in chemistry from St. Stephen's College in Delhi.

He spoke to Lokvani about his work and interests.

Lokvani: Congratulations on winning this prestigious award. How does it feel to get this recognition?

Kumar: It is an humbling experience especially when I see the list of people who are part of this select group. Each one of them has made outstanding contributions in their respective fields. I hope the award will help bring more interest in my research. A wider awareness will attract bright minds to this topic. This will benefit the research.

Lokvani: Could you describe the research that brought you this recognition?

Kumar: In the past 100 years, discovery of antibiotics has been the most significant breakthrough in medicine. Unfortunately now most bacteria are getting resistant to these antibiotics. A good example is Vancomycin - an antibiotic that has been used for nearly 40 years. It is now loosing its effectiveness.

To address this problem we are developing protein molecules that insert into cell membranes of bacteria and rupture it. This leads to leakage of the cell content thus draining and eventually killing the bacterial cell. The challenge in introducing these proteins into a cell is the greasy nature of the inside of the cell membrane which destabilizes the protein thus making it ineffective. To solve this problem we add Teflon like material which does not denature the protein. While the award was recognizing this effort, I have other research interests as well in the areas like Protein design, the origin of modern day enzymes, and biomaterials etc.

Lokvani: What are the future areas of research in the field of Biotechnology?

Kumar: While the human genome project is now complete, there is still the need to understand how one individual genome differs from another. A lot of research needs to happen in this area.

The final goal of all research is to improve quality of life for all. While the trend in the drug discovery world is towards personalized medicine, which is an expensive product, there is a great need particularly in the developing countries for cheaper drugs for common epidemics like Malaria.

Lokvani: What is the current state of biotechnology in India?

Kumar: India has fairly good manufacturing facilities but independent research facilities are limited. Unfortunately not enough money is put into research and thus diseases that are unique to India like Malaria and TB are not getting enough attention.

Lokvani: Given the high cost of getting a drug to market how do you propose to create cheaper drugs?

Kumar: I feel the cost can be cut down if we give up greed, give up some profits and allow high volume to make up for some of it. Another approach is to be really creative and use radically different ways to invent new drugs.

Lokvani: Has being at Tufts University which is a small school been an advantage or a disadvantage?

Kumar: I think it is both. Tufts is a great place to work. My colleagues are very good and so also the students who come to Tufts. It is a warm place where people really care about you and your work. But its size sometimes does not allow us to have the critical mass of students to work on large research projects. That is a disadvantage.

Lokvani: Was chemistry your only passion all through your life?

Kumar: Not at all. In high school I was very drawn to physics. At St Stephens College in Delhi, I met S. V. Eswaran, who really got me interested in chemistry. My thesis advisor at Brown, Matthew Zimmt was instrumental in helping me think through problems in a minimalist fashion. All that has helped bring me to this point.

Lokvani: Now that you have this award what does the future look like? Do you think of becoming an entrepreneur?

Kumar: While the award was nice to get, my work is going to continue as before. We still have a lot of work that needs to be done in this area. There are VCs who are looking at our work. But whether something will come of it, remains to be seen.

Lokvani: Your wife Jaya, is also a faculty member at Harvard. How do you manage to balance work and family with two busy careers?

Kumar: Since we are in similar fields we understand each other's work and schedules well. We have been very supportive of each other. It is so nice to be able to exchange ideas on our research. While there have been times especially during my tenure process when schedules were tight, it has worked out well I think.

Lokvani: Any words of wisdom for those entering the Biotechnology field?

Kumar: It is an exciting field with a lot of unanswered questions. But be part of it because you like it and not because it is a popular field. The popularity of fields change with time, but the excitement of the research never dies.

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