Pravindra Kumar
Pravindra Kumar is an Indian biophysicist, bioinformatician, biochemist and professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He is known for his work on protein-protein interactions, protein engineering and structure-based drug design. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development in 2015, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences.[1]
Pravindra Kumar | |
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Born | India |
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Studies on protein-protein interactions, protein engineering and structure-based drug design |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | |
Institutions |
Biography

Pravindra Kumar, after completing his master's studies at Chaudhary Charan Singh University in 1995, did his doctoral studies in biophysics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi while working as a senior demonstrator there.[2] He earned his PhD in 2001 and proceeded to the US where he did his post doctoral studies at Purdue University.[3] Returning to India in 2005, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee as an assistant professor and holds the position of an associate professor since 2012. At IIT Roorkee, he has held several positions such as those of associate dean (corporate interaction), chief advisor (sports), deputy chief advisor (students club) and warden.[2]
Professional profile

Pravindra Kumar focuses his interest on protein engineering and interactions as well as drug design and leads a team of researchers.[3] In 2017, his team worked on Chlorogenic acid, an aromatic compound found naturally in plants like coffea and their biochemical and structural studies using x-ray crystallography techniques revealed that the compound had anti-bacterial properties.[4] The discovery is reported to have opportunities in the development of a new class of antibiotics[5] as the compound clings to the chorismate mutase enzyme in the shikimate pathway which assists in the synthesis of aromatic amino acids and this could inhibit the growth of bacteria.[6] His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles[7][note 1] and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 117 of them.[8]
Awards and honors
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2015.[1]
= Selected bibliography
- Mahto, Jai Krishna; Neetu, Neetu; Waghmode, Bhairavnath; Kuatsjah, Eugene; Sharma, Monica; Sircar, Debabrata; Kumar, Ashwani; Tomar, Shailly; D Eltis, Lindsay; Kumar, Pravindra (2021). "Molecular insights into substrate recognition and catalysis by phthalate dioxygenase from Comamonas testosteroni". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 297 paes=451–462 (6): 101416. doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101416. PMC 8649396. PMID 34800435.
- Dhindwal, Sonali; N Patil, Dipak; Mohammadi, Mahmood; Tomar, Shailly; Sylvestre, Michel; Kumar, Pravindra (2011). "Biochemical Studies and Ligand-bound Structures of Biphenyl Dehydrogenase from Pandoraea pnomenusa Strain B-356 Reveal a Basis for Broad Specificity of the Enzyme". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 286 (42): 37011–37022. doi:10.1074/jbc.M111.291013. PMC 3196096. PMID 21880718.
- Mahto, jai Krishna; Neetu, Neetu; Sharma, Monica; Dubay, Monica; Vellanki, Bhanu Parkash; Kumar, Pravindra (2022). "Structural Insights into Dihydroxylation of Terephthalate, a Product of Polyethylene Terephthalate Degradation". Journal of Bacteriology Reports. 204 (18): e00248-20. doi:10.1128/JB.00543-21. PMC 8923216. PMID 35007143.
- Neetu, Neetu; Katiki, Madhusudhanarao; Dev, Aditya; Gaur, Stuti; Tomar, Shailly; Kumar, Pravindra (2020). "Structural and biochemical analyses reveal that chlorogenic acid inhibits the shikimate pathway". Journal of Bacteriology Reports. 202 (3): e00543-21. doi:10.1128/JB.00248-20. PMC 7925078. PMID 32661075.
- Dalal, Vikram; Kumar, Pramod; Rakhaminov, Gaddy; Qamar, Aneela; Fan, Xan; Hunter, Howard; Tomar, Shailly; Golemi-Kotra, Dasantila; Kumar, Pravindra (2019). "Repurposing an ancient protein core structure: structural studies on FmtA, a novel esterase of staphylococcus aureus". Journal of molecular biology Reports. 431 (17): 3107–3123. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2019.06.019. PMC 9631409. PMID 31260692.
- Kumar, Pranav; Kesari, Pooja; Kokane, Sunil; Kumar Ghosh, Dilip; Kumar, Pravindra; Kumar Sharma, Ashwani (2019). "Crystal structures of a putative periplasmic cystine-binding protein from Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus: insights into an adapted mechanism of ligand binding". Journal of molecular biology Report. doi:10.1111/febs.14921. PMC 9824665. PMID 31063259.
- Dhankar, Poonam; Dalal, Vikram; Mahto, Jai Krishna; Gurjar, Bhola Ram; Tomar, Shailly; Sharma, Ashwani Kumar; Kumar, Pravindra (2020). "Characterization of dye-decolorizing peroxidase from Bacillus subtilis". Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports. 693: 108590. doi:10.1016/j.abb.2020.108590. PMC 9631409. PMID 32971035.
- Mahto, jai Krishna; Sharma, Monica; Neetu, Neetu; Kayastha, Arpan; Aggarwal, Shubham; Kumar, Pravindra (2022). "Conformational flexibility enables catalysis of phthalate cis-4,5-dihydrodiol dehydrogenase". Journal of Bacteriology Reports. doi:10.1016/j.abb.2022.109314. PMID 35667443.
- Dalal, Vikram; Dhankhar, Poonam; Singh, Vishakha; Singh, Vishakha; Rakhaminov, Gaddy; Golemi-Kotra, Dasantila; Kumar, Pravindra (2021). "doi: 10.1007/s10930-020-09953-6. Epub 2021 Jan 9.Structure-Based Identification of Potential Drugs Against FmtA of Staphylococcus aureus: Virtual Screening, Molecular Dynamics, MM-GBSA, and QM/MM". The Protein Journal. 40 (2): 148–165. doi:10.1007/s10930-020-09953-6. PMID 33421024.
Selected bibliography
- Mahto, Jai Krishna; Neetu, Neetu; Waghmode, Bhairavnath; Kuatsjah, Eugene; Sharma, Monica; Sircar, Debabrata; Sharma, Ashwani Kumar; Tomar, Shailly; Eltis, Lindsay D.; Kumar, Pravindra (2021). "Molecular insights into substrate recognition and catalysis by phthalate dioxygenase from Comamonas testosteroni". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 297 (6): 101416. doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101416. PMC 8649396. PMID 34800435.
- Narwal, Manju; Singh, Harvijay; Pratap, Shivendra; Malik, Anjali; Kuhn, Richard J.; Kumar, Pravindra; Tomar, Shailly (2018). "Crystal structure of chikungunya virus nsP2 cysteine protease reveals a putative flexible loop blocking its active site". International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. 116: 451–462. doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.05.007. PMID 29730006. S2CID 19153717.
- Sharma, Rajesh; Kesari, Pooja; Kumar, Pravindra; Tomar, Shailly (2018). "Structure-function insights into chikungunya virus capsid protein: Small molecules targeting capsid hydrophobic pocket". Virology. 515: 223–234. doi:10.1016/j.virol.2017.12.020. PMID 29306785.
- Pratap, Shivendra; Dev, Aditya; Kumar, Vijay; Yadav, Ravi; Narwal, Manju; Tomar, Shailly; Kumar, Pravindra (25 July 2017). "Structure of Chorismate Mutase-like Domain of DAHPS from Bacillus subtilis Complexed with Novel Inhibitor Reveals Conformational Plasticity of Active Site". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 6364. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.6364P. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06578-1. PMC 5526877. PMID 28743924.
See also
Notes
- Please see Selected bibliography section
References
- "Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development" (PDF). Department of Biotechnology. 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- Roorkee, Information Management Group, IIT (15 May 2018). "Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Index". www.iitr.ac.in. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- "Faculty profile" (PDF). IIT Roorkee. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- "A new class of antibiotics from coffee? - Nature India". Nature India. 20 September 2017. doi:10.1038/nindia.2017.121 (inactive 31 December 2022). Retrieved 15 May 2018.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2022 (link) - "IIT Roorkee discovered the antibacterial mechanism of a natural compound obtained from plant species". India Today. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- "IIT-Roorkee study finds coffee compound may lead to new class of antibiotics - Times of India". The Times of India. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- "On Google Scholar". Google Scholar. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- "On ResearchGate". 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
External links
- Parida, Rashmi R (23 February 2018). "IIT Roorkee unravel the antibacterial mechanism of a natural compound obtained from plant species including Coffee - India Education Diary". India Education Diary. Retrieved 15 May 2018.