Systems and Computational Biology Group

Charu G. Kumar, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Bioengineering

[Link to Google scholar]
[Curriculum Vitae]

RESEARCH AREAS
My research is in the areas of systems and computational biology. Our group conducts research in complex diseases in human health by modeling, and integrating other ‘-omics’ data to gene regulatory and metabolic networks using systems biology, bioinformatics, and computational genomics methods. My research interests also include studying how diseases and pathogens may have created molecular novelties operant in the constituent pathways and what mechanisms are at play in generating these novelties, which could then be studied for their potential as drug-targets. Methodologies that will be used include gene network analysis, '-omics' database and network mining, computational and comparative genomics, and metabolic modeling.

Computational evolutionary biology

A second, and equally prominent, research direction in our group is on the origin and evolution of regulatory networks and modules at a genome wide level in humans, model organisms, and pathogenic bacteria. We integrate comparative genomics and systems biology methods to explore differences in specific regulatory pathways between organisms.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Graduated December 2008; Advisor: Harris A. Lewin, Ph.D.

Master of Science, Biochemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN, 1993. Advisor: Michael A. Raftery, Ph.D.

Master of Philosophy, Chemistry, University of Delhi, India, Advisor: A.N. Maitra, Ph.D.

Master of Science, Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, 1988; Advisor: P.Gupta-Bhaiya, Ph.D.

Bachelor of Science, Chemistry, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India, 1986.

WORK AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant Professor , Department of Bioengineering, UIUC, IL, 2013-present

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Institute for Genomic Biology, UIUC, 2010 – January 2013. Mentor: Prof. Nathan Price, Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle

Graduate Research Assistant, Animal Sciences, UIUC, IL, 2001–2008. Advisor: Prof. Harris Lewin, UC Davis, CA

Program Analyst, Bioinformatics, W. M. Keck Center, UIUC, IL, 1999–2001

TEACHING

Systems Biology: Metabolic Engineering, Spring 2014

OTHER ACTIVITIES

I-Promise undergraduate student mentor, 2012-present

ARTICLES REVIEWED FOR SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

BMC Bioinformatics

BMC Genomics

BMC Systems Biology

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL MEMBERSHIP

Society for Neuroscience (SfN)

AAAS

Charu G. Kumar, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Department of Bioengineering