Manishekhar Kumar, PhD

Bio

Dr. Kumar currently serves as Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Surgery and an investigator at the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (ICRME) at Indiana University School of Medicine. He received his doctoral degree in Biosciences and Bioengineering from IIT Guwahati, India. During his doctoral studies, he was a Fulbright visiting fellow at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University in Boston, MA. Prior to joining Indiana University, Dr. Kumar completed his postdoctoral training at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Dr. Kumar’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of wound healing in biofilm-infected diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and Tissue nanotransfection (TNT)-based tissue reprogramming approaches. He has contributed to more than 20 peer reviewed publications in journals such as the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Diabetes, Biomaterials and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Key Publications

Kumar M, Gupta P, Bhattacharjee S, Nandi SK, Mandal BB. Immunomodulatory injectable silk hydrogels maintaining functional islets and promoting anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage polarization. Biomaterials. 2018;187:1-17.

2. Kumar M, Nandi SK, Kaplan DL, Mandal BB. Localized immunomodulatory silk macrocapsules for islet-like spheroid formation and sustained insulin production. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. 2017;3(10):2443-2456.

3. Kumar M, Coburn J, Kaplan DL, Mandal BB. Immuno-informed 3D silk biomaterials for tailoring biological responses. ACS applied materials & interfaces. 2016;8(43):29310-29322.

Singh K, Rustagi Y, Abouhashem AS, Tabasum S, Verma P, Hernandez E, Pal D, Khona DK, Mohanty SK, Kumar M, Srivastava R, Guda PR, Verma SS, Mahajan S, Killian JA, Walker LA, Ghatak S, Mathew-Steiner SS, Wanczyk KE, Liu S, Wan J, Yan P, Bundschuh R, Khanna S, Gordillo GM, Murphy MP, Roy S, Sen CK. Genome-wide DNA hypermethylation opposes healing in patients with chronic wounds by impairing epithelial-mesenchymal transition. J Clin Invest. 2022 Sep 1;132(17):e157279.

Rustagi Y, Abouhashem AS, Verma P, Verma SS, Hernandez E, Liu S, Kumar M, Guda PR, Srivastava R, Mohanty SK, Kacar S, Mahajan S, Wanczyk KE, Khanna S, Murphy MP, Gordillo GM, Roy S, Wan J, Sen CK, Singh K. Endothelial Phospholipase Cγ2 Improves Outcomes of Diabetic Ischemic Limb Rescue Following VEGF Therapy. Diabetes. 2022;71(5):1149-1165.

Titles & Appointments

Assistant Research Professor of Surgery

Education

2022 FEL Post-Doc Fellowship, Department of Surgery, Indiana University

2018 FEL Post-Doc Fellowship, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University

2018 PhD Indian Institute of Technology

2012 BTECH Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences
Research

Dr. Kumar’s research at ICRME focuses on insulinogenic reprogramming and mechanisms of chronic wound healing.

Insulinogenic Reprogramming: Dr. Kumar is exploring the non-invasive direct insulinogenic reprogramming of skin for insulin production and diabetes reversal in vivo. This work involves a non-viral Tissue nano transfection (TNT) which enables natural insulin production by skin-resident cells correcting hyperglycemia under condition of diabetes in a glucose sensitive manner.

Mechanisms of Chronic Wound Healing: Dr. Kumar’s research interest is to dissect the molecular mechanism of deficiency in barrier function of biofilm-infected non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). Wounds with biofilm infections close with deficient barrier function and are associated with wound recurrence. His research interest lies in understanding the functional wound closure that can prevent the recurrence of such DFUs.

Google Scholar

Looking for patient care?

To schedule an appointment with a faculty member physician of IU School of Medicine, contact Indiana University Health at 888-484-3258 or use the physician finder by clicking the button below.

Find a doctor