Dr Rajender Kumar

Dr Rajender Kumar
Principal Scientist-cum-National Fellow
E-mail: rkg.nrce@mail.com
Discipline: Veterinary Parasitology
 

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

Employment record

He joined as Scientist (Veterinary Parasitology) in ICAR on 22.03 .1996 at NAARM Hyderabad. He served as Scientist (1996-2000) and Scientist Sr. Scale (2000-03) at National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan and Scientist Sr. Scale (2003-05) and Sr. Scientist (2005-2011) at National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar. He is presently serving as Principal Scientist cum National Fellow, ICAR at National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar (Haryana).

 

Awards/Honours/ Membership of Professional Societies:

  1. National Scholarship from 1984 -1991.
  2. Indian Council of Agricultural Research -Junior Research Fellowship from 1991 to 1993 (During M.V.Sc.)
  3. Dr. K.S.Krishnan Senior Research Fellowship by Department of Atomic Energy Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (during Ph.D.).
  4. Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Award for outstanding Post Graduate Agricultural Research 2000 in the field of Veterinary Parasitology awarded by Indian Council of Agricultural Research on dated July16, 2001 at New Delhi.
  5. Awarded Prof. B.V Rao Gold medal- 1997 for best research article published in Indian Veterinary Journal by Indian Veterinary Association.
  6. Awarded National fellow w.e.f. 08.04.2011
  7. Life member of Indian Science Congress Association, Indian Veterinary Association, Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Research, Indian Society for Parasitology, Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, National Academy on Vector-Borne Diseases, Acarological Society of India and Agricultural Research Service Scientists Forum.

 

Specific area of Interest:

Molecular biology, host-parasite interaction, immunodiagnosis of equine protozoan diseases (animal trypanosomosis and equine piroplasmosis)

 

Ongoing Research projects

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

 

Recently Completed Research Projects:

  1. Development of diagnostic tests for equine trypanosomosis (surra). (As Principal Investigator).
  2. ‘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).
  3. Cysteine proteinase, a defined antigen of T. evansi for control of Trypanosomosis (as co-investigator).
  4. Development of sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for detection of equine piroplasmosis (as co-investigator).
  5. 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).
  6. DST project on ‘Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of drug loaded nano-formulations against Trypanosoma evansi in animal model’ (Co-investigator).

 

Patents filed:

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

Important Publications:

  1. 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 evansiin camel. Journal of Camel Practice and Research10(2):153-155.
  2. 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 126365-373.
  3. Singh, N., Pathak, K.M.L.and Kumar, R.2004. Epidemiology and diagnosis surra (Trypanosoma evansi) in camels- a review. Journal of Camel Practice and Research : 11(1): 39-50.
  4. 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: 718-20.
  5. 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, 2007, 2, No. 035, 14 .
  6. 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.
  7. Roy N, Nageshan RK, Pallavi R, Chakravarthy H, Chandran S, Kumar R, Gupta AK, Singh RK, Yadav SC, Tatu U. 2010. Proteomics of Trypanosoma avansi infection in rodents. PLoS One. 2010 Mar 22;5(3):e9796.
  8. Pallavi R, Roy N, Nageshan RK, Talukdar P, Pavithra SR, Reddy R, Venketesh S, Kumar R, Gupta AK, Singh RK, Yadav SC, Tatu U. 2010.Heat shock protein 90 as a drug target against protozoan infections: biochemical characterization of HSP90 from Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma evansi and evaluation of its inhibitor as a candidate drug. J Biol Chem. 2010 Dec 3;285(49):37964-75
  9. 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) : 559-65.
  10. Yadav S. C., Kumar R., Kumar V, Jaideep, Gupta A. K, Bera B.C and U. Tatu . 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.
  11. 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.
  12. Kumar R., Singh J., Singh R., Kumar S.  and Yadav  S. C. 2013. Comparative efficacy of different in vitro cultivation conditions for Trypanosoma evansistrains isolated from different mammalian hosts inhabiting different geographical areas of India. Journal of Parasitic Diseases doi 10.1007/s12639-013-0314-5
  13. 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.
  14. 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. DOI 10.1007/s11250-013-0498-9.
  15. 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). Ind. J .Virol, 24 (3): 386-390.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. Manuja A, Dilbaghi N, Bhanjana G, Chopra M, Kaur H,  Kumar R, Kumar B, Yadav SC, Singh SK, Kumar S. 2013. Quinapyramine sulphate-loaded sodium alginate nanoparticles shows enhanced trypanocidal activity Nanomedicine doi:10.2217/nnm.13.148.
  19.  Kumar R. and Sharma P. 2014. Dourine – diagnosis, control and eradication strategies. Indian Farming 64:16, 18.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23.  Gopalakrishnan A., Maji C., Dahiya R.K., Suthar A., Kumar R., 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.
  24. 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 Vet Science  63: 129-137.
  25.  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: 1205-08.
  26.  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.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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 onequine mononuclear and red blood cells. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 92 : 788-794.
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