Santosh Kumar is a molecular microbiologist at the University of Birmingham. His long standing research interest has been to develop novel therapeutic regimens against the tuberculosis disease. Tuberculosis is a major global problem causing about 2 million deaths annually. Emergence of antimicrobial strains is complicating prevention and treatment. A key protein in the infection process is chaperonin Cpn60.1, produced by the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Santosh demonstrated that this protein undergoes unusual post-translational modifications. To decipher precise role of chaperonins in tuberculosis, Santosh teamed up with Prof. Pete Lund, who is a world expert in Mycobacterial chaperone research. For faster research output, Santosh established a zebrafish infection model to dissect the role of the chaperonins in mycobacterial infections. His research findings bear the potential to develop novel non-antibiotic related treatments for tuberculosis.
Santosh Kumar has received a number of awards in recognition of his work, including, the Newton International Fellowship, Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, UK, Public Health England (PHE), UK Award. Santosh is also a STEM Ambassador and is involved in mentoring and inspiring students to take up STEM subjects and research.
Subject groups
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Health and Human Sciences
Molecular medicine, Medical microbiology
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Molecules of Life
Biochemistry and molecular biology, Biophysics and structural biology, Molecular microbiology
