Sanjay Kumar

Assistant Professor, Bioengineering Faculty Scientist, Physical Biosciences Division, LBNL Core Member, UCB/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering 274A Stanley Hall mailcode: 1762 (510) 643-0787 fax: (510) 642-5835 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://kumarlab.berkeley.edu/ Membership effective July 2005

Research Interests

Macromolecular basis of cell shape, mechanics, and adhesion; materials science of proteins.

Research Summary

Dr. Kumar's research program lies at the interface of molecular and cellular bioengineering, with a specific focus on understanding how cells sense, process, and respond to biophysical inputs from their environment (cellular mechanobiology).  His research group actively investigates molecular biophysical aspects of cellular mechanobiology, including the mechanics and dynamics of the extracellular matrix (ECM), cell-ECM adhesions, and the cytoskeleton, and the role these systems play in microscale tissue engineering, stem cell engineering, and neural tumor biology.

Selected Publications

S. Kumar, I. Z. Maxwell, A. Heisterkamp, T. R. Polte, T. P. Lele, M. Salanga, E. Mazur, and D. E. Ingber (2006). Viscoelastic retraction of single living stress fibers and its impact on cell shape, cytoskeletal organization, and extracellular matrix mechanics. Biophysical Journal 90: 3762-3773.

C. P. Brangwynne, F. C. MacKintosh, S. Kumar, N. A. Geisse, J. Talbot, L. Mahadevan, K. K. Parker, D. E. Ingber, and D. A. Weitz (2006). Microtubules can bear enhanced compressive loads in living cells because of lateral reinforcement. Journal of Cell Biology 173: 733-741.

T. P. Lele and S. Kumar (2007). Brushes, cables, and anchors: Recent insights into multiscale assembly and mechanics of cellular structural networks. Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics 47: 348-360.

M. G. Chown and S. Kumar (2007). Imaging and manipulating the structural machinery of living cells on the micro- and nanoscale. International Journal of Nanomedicine 2: 1-12.

R. J. Mannix*, S. Kumar*, F. Cassiola, M. Montoya-Zavala, E. Feinstein, M. Prentiss, and D. E. Ingber (2008). Nanomagnetic actuation of receptor-mediated signal transduction. Nature Nanotechnology 3: 36-40 [*equal contribution].

R. G. Thakar, M. G. Chown, A. Patel, L. Peng, S. Kumar, and T. A . Desai (2008). Contractility-dependent modulation of cell proliferation and adhesion by microtopographical cues. Small 4: 1416-1424.

S. Kumar and V. M. Weaver (2009).  Mechanics, malignancy, and metastasis: The force journey of a tumor cell.  Cancer and Metastasis  Reviews 28: 113-127.

T. A. Ulrich, E. M. de Juan Pardo, and S. Kumar (2009). The mechanical rigidity of the extracellular matrix regulates the structure, motility, and proliferation of glioma cells.  Cancer Research 69: 4167-4174. 

S. Sen and S. Kumar (2009).  Cellular-matrix de-adhesion dynamics reflect contractile mechanics.  Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering 2: 218-230.

D. J. D'Sa, E. M. De Juan Pardo, R. Rivas-Astiz, S. Sen, and S. Kumar (2009). High-throughput indentational elasticity measurements of hydrogel extracellular matrix substrates.  Applied Physics Letters 95: 63701 1-3.

A. J. Keung, K. E. Healy, S. Kumar, and D. V. Schaffer (2009). Biophysics and dynamics of natural and engineered stem cell microenvironments.  Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Systems Biology and Medicine [2009.doi: 10.1002/wsbm.46].

S. Sen and S. Kumar (2009).  Combining mechanical and optical approaches to dissect cellular mechanobiology.  Journal of Biomechanics (in press).

T. A. Ulrich, A. Jain, K. Tanner, J. L. MacKay, and S. Kumar.  Probing cellular mechanobiology in three-dimensional culture with collagen-agarose matrices.  Biomaterials (in press).

A. Patel, R. G. Thakar, M. Chown, P. Ayala, T. A. Desai, and S. Kumar (2009). Biophysical Mechanisms of Single-Cell Interactions with Microtopographical Cues. Biomedical Microdevices (in press).