Viral Oncology New Approaches to Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

Umesh Kumar is currently serving as Professor in the Department of Biosciences at IMS Ghaziabad (University Courses Campus), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, a position he has held since 2019. In addition, he leads the Research Department at the institution. Prior to this role, he worked as a Scientific Officer in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Delhi. Dr. Kumar earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences entitled "Epigenetic regulation in Breast Carcinogenesis" from the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi in 2013. Following his doctoral studies, he joined the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at the National Institute of Immunology (DBT- Government of India) as a Research Associate in 2014.

His research interests encompass a range of topics, including the molecular diagnosis of cervical cancer, the molecular epigenetics of breast carcinogenesis, CAR T- cell therapy, mesenchymal stem cells, epithelial ovarian carcinoma, and tumor virology. Dr. Kumar has published 50 research articles in prestigious journals such as Oncogene, BMC Cancer, Life Sciences, Cellular Signalling, Immunobiology, Heliyon, and Tumor Biology. Dr. Kumar has contributed more than 21 book chapters to international publishers.

He has been awarded several grants from government funding agencies, including UP Council of Science & Technology, DST- Science and Engineering Research Board and ICMR, New Delhi. In addition to his research publications, Dr. Kumar has received two Young Scientist Awards and one Senior Scientist Award from government- recognized societies and organizations in recognition of his research contributions. He also serves as a reviewer for several international journals, including Phytomedicine, Cellular Signalling, Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, Cell Communication and Signaling, Molecular Diversity, Discover Medicine, Medical Oncology, BMC Nutrition, Discover Oncology and the European Journal of Human Genetics. Dr. Kumar has been serving as a Doctoral Research Committee (DRC) Expert member in several universities in India.

Deepak Parashar is an assistant professor in the laboratory of Siegfried Janz in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), Milwaukee. His long- term research interests involve the development of a comprehensive understanding of key developmental pathways and how alterations in gene expression contribute to human cancer. His academic training and research experience have provided him with an excellent background in multiple biological disciplines including molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. As a graduate, He was able to conduct research on the mechanisms of action of a novel class of Cancer Testis Antigen- SPAG9 in Gynecological Cancers. As a doctoral student at National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, his research was focused on the characterization of novel cancer- testis antigens (e.g. SPAG9 and AKAP4 and HSP70- 2) in different malignancies. Cancertestis (CT) antigens have been indicated as a potential target for antigen- specific immunotherapy because they are not found in somatic tissues except testes but are highly expressed by various malignancies and often trigger humoral immune responses in cancer patients. Recently, SPAG9 protein has been approved for Phase II human clinical trials using a dendritic cell- based vaccine for cervical cancer patients at the Cancer Institute, Adyar, Chennai, India, and he was part of this study, which has been approved for Phase II human clinical trial. During his undergraduate and graduate careers, he also received several academic awards including Prof. N. R. Moudgal Young Scientist Award. After joining Medical College of Wisconsin, He continued to build on his previous training experience in cancer research to study critical questions regarding the role of oncogenic microRNA (onco- miR) in the regulation of angiogenesis and chemoresistance. Overall, as a faculty in the Department of Medicine at the MCW, he has more than 14 years of experience in cancer research and has published several high- impact publications as a first author and also as a corresponding author. In addition, the proposed training plan outlines a set of career development activities and workshops - as a judge in institutional conferences, public speaking, lab management, and mentoring students - designed to enhance his ability to be an independent investigator.

Subodh Kumar is currently working as Senior Demonstrator in the Department of Experimental Medicine & Biotechnology at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. He has more than 8 years of clinical research and teaching experience at PGIMER after completion of his Ph.D. in cancer biology from the Department of Biophysics of PGIMER. His research activities involved cancer biology, molecular signaling, experimental toxicology, and drug delivery as evident from his impactful published research articles in highly reputed journals like Scientific Reports of Nature group, Journal of Medical Virology, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and Toxicology In Vitro. He has published more than 60 research articles, 12 book chapters, and has submitted 2 patents for approval with H- index of 21 and a total of more than 2100 citations. To his credit, he has been honored with various international (Late Dr. Santosh Wale Memorial Award, International TATA travel award, YIR travel grant award) and national awards (DST- SERB N- PDF award 2020- 22, Best Research Paper publication award at annual research day of PGIMER in 2021 and 2022). He has also been active in academics and his achievements as an organizing secretary include National hands- on workshop on "Applications of flow cytometry in Pharmacology" in 2019 and 2020 at PGIMER. As Co- organizing Secretary, he is conducting National hands- on workshop on "Pharmacogenomics" every year from 2018 to 2023 in the Department of Pharmacology of PGIMER.