Vivek Kumar

My research is at the interface of biomolecular engineering, materials science, and synthetic peptide chemistry. My undergraduate at Northwestern University focused on synthetic bioelastomers with Guillermo A. Ameer, ScD. My doctoral work at Georgia Tech invented surgical materials for hernia repair and vascular grafts; I was advised by Elliot L. Chaikof, MD, PhD at BIDMC, Harvard Medical School where I finished my first post-doc. I was an American Heart Association pre-doctoral fellow, and then an NIDCR NRSA F32 post-doctoral researcher in oligo-peptide materials and their dental applications with Jeffrey D. Hartgerink, PhD, at Rice University and Co-advised by Rena D’Souza, DDS, PhD. 5 years ago, I began my independent faculty position at NJIT where I explore self-assembling peptide hydrogels for a milieu of therapeutic avenues. My experience in this platform extends from drug delivery, peptide chemistry and materials development with a focus on translation. Some of my research activities include over 50 publications, 70 conference abstracts and over a dozen patents/ disclosures. I have mentored 3 post-docs (1 current), 7 graduate students (5 PhD current) and over 15 current undergraduates has given me and my lab much attention in the scientific and lay media – in addition to our high school outreach and mentoring programs. Our work has been profiled in the Economist, ACS, IFLScience, and over 2 dozen different scientific journals. In summary, my career and interests have focused on creating a library of hybrid materials based on tunable, nano-architectured, hierarchically assembled scaffolds that tailor inflammation and angiogenesis. Importantly, these initial successes have translated to independent funding that has contributed to some of the preliminary data in this proposal. My lab has/had funding for this platform from NIH NEI R15, NIH NIDCR R01, NSF STTR, NIH SBIR, New Jersey Health Foundation, Rutgers TechAdvance, NSF I-Corps (2x National and a 9x site), and over 20x Undergraduate Research and innovation (URI) grants. The preliminary data and collaborative strengths in this proposal are a result of complementary domain expertise in injectable peptide-based biomaterials, drug delivery, complementary animal models and translation. I am the founder, and Chairman of 2 Biotech startups NangioTx, Inc. and SAPHTx, Inc. which are actively translating technologies in preclinical efficacy models prior to Phase I human studies. I am well connected to the start-up community, pharmaceutical industry, and, most importantly, have experience translating therapeutics from ideation to IND enabling studies. My laboratory at NJIT houses all equipment, expertise and domain specific contacts necessary to perform the experiments proposed. My expertise in therapeutic drug and peptide development extends into numerous in vitro and in vivo animal models including subcutaneous & IM (Mouse, Rat, Canine), IV (rat), intraocular (rat) and intratooth (dog) – all recently published – underscore the expertise and de-risked potential of our drug development and SAP platform. I have developed fundamental drug development experience in a range of fields, through molecular architecture tuning of scaffolds, and recent work against COVID-19. Importantly, we are highly motivated to educate the next generation high schoolers through our outreach program – CSMEO – Center for Science, Medicine, and Engineering Outreach. We have expanded to almost a half dozen schools, more than a dozen high school mentees and as many talks.

NIH-NRSA Post-doctoral fellowship; Rice University; Supramolecular Chemistry; 2016

Post-doctoral fellowship; BIDMC and Wyss Institute, Harvard Medical School; Department of Surgery; 2012

Ph.D.; Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus; Bioengineering; 2011

B.S.; Northwestern University; Biomedical Engineering; 2006

By appointment

http://kumarlab.njit.edu

CHE 700B - MASTERS PROJECT

MTEN 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT

CHE 706 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II

CHE 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

MTEN 492 - RESRCH AND INDPENDENT STUDY II

CHE 491 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY

BME 491 - RESEARCH & INDEPENDENT STUDY I

BME 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

BME 788 - ST: TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH: GRANT WRITING AND PITCHING

CHE 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES

MTEN 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES

MTEN 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II

BME 790A - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

CHE 492 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY

CHE 701B - MASTERS THESIS

CHE 705 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I

MTEN 491 - RESEARCH & INDEPENDENT STUDY I

MTEN 701B - MASTERS THESIS

MTEN 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I

MTEN 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

Global: Synergizing engineering, innovation, medicine, and entrepreneurship to train New Jersey’s future workforce.

While I have been given the opportunity to lecture, tutor, guide workshops, be a teaching assistant, and write/ grade exams; I have always known that I am still a student - learning, adapting and evolving every day. I remember distinctly one of my favorite classes in undergrad – Introduction to Fluid Mechanics instructed by Prof. Richard Lueptow at Northwestern University. Every class started with Prof. Lueptow emphatically drawing out and explaining a plan of what he was going to cover, excitedly explaining fundamental concepts using real-world examples, and going through the class encouraging thinking and application of core principles to fluid mechanics. It is this level of enthusiasm, structure and passion that I hope to emulate in my teaching.

In developing my pedagogical method, which I have honed over the past decade, I have come to realize that there are 5 main areas that I strive to focus in: 1) demonstrating a zeal and passion for the subject material, 2) tailoring the subjects’ appeal to student specific interests, 3) using real problems in research, industry, and fundamental science to help illustrate and excite discussion, 4) focusing on team work and group learning, and 5) enhancing communication and presentation of ideas. Coupled with my research and extra-curricular interests in entrepreneurship and innovation, I have been able to give students a unique perspective in multiple aspects of biomedical engineering.

To realize these foci, I plan to challenge students academically through the rigor of homework and exams. More importantly, I believe as future scientists and engineers they are responsible for effective communication, research and problem solving. Key components of my classes include group work, presentations, problem-based learning, engineering design, idea development and research proposals, in addition to canonical problems sets, midterms and finals.

Tying in research concepts and the evolving nature of science, I have come to realize that teaching any course, be it in Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biology or Chemistry – demands an interdisciplinary approach. For example, understanding the basics of Navier-Stokes, material porosity, tortuosity and diffusivity, coupled with blood flow and flow in the extra-cellular space between blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, helps tie in a variety of disciplines to understanding the material requirements for generating thick tissue mimics. I use these types of examples to illustrate the utility of often abstract concepts in real world science. All my courses have an innovation and project development component while tying in the importance of entrepreneurship and customer discovery. (aside from my involvement in formal class teaching, I am an active participant in Capstone in BME 2 times, and CS 4 times). In my research lab I have mentored over 30 undergraduate students (over half dozen 498 independent studies). I also participate actively in pre-health advising in a highly instructional manner.

Feedback from students is overwhelmingly positive; actual student comments from confidential blinded surveys:
1^st class (Q8: 2.8): I personally have a lot of respect for this professor. He presents himself in a way that proves that he knows his material extremely well. He is also extremely approachable for questions about class material, but also guidance in future
endeavors.
2^nd course (Q8: 4): The course material itself is unique and Dr Kumar is amazing as an instructor. He is able to communicate complex ideas very clearly and pushes the students to work on assignments that they would otherwise be uncomfortable approaching.
3^rd course (Q8: 3.82): Best professor in the BME department!!! Very knowledgeable!!!
4^th course (Q8: 3.55): First and foremost, I have come across a few handful of professors that have impressed me in that they show passion for their work, they seem to enjoy teaching, and they absolutely have fun with it. Dr. Kumar is the perfect example of a professor that can strongly encourage you to pursue your passion in the engineering industry and brings a fresh perspective on how approach this industry. His entrepreneurial background and his ability to engage his students is remarkable. I'm looking forward to having him as my instructor for another two classes.

Other comments:

“Excellent Professor! Very fair, understanding, encouraging, and engaging. Great Class, learned a great deal.”

“Less homework”

“More homework”

“All aspects of the course are very well put together. If I can point something that does not need improvement, but could enable students to participate more in laboratory is scheduling weekend sessions for the lab portion of the work. I found it a little difficult to make the meeting times with my group since I worked full time. Although, I do acknowledge that the professor made a great effort to meet via the Google hangout and was very understanding with my work situation. Great Course and Professor!”

“Talks a little fast, but the content he brings to the table is very fair. He teaches a lot of information, but he teaches it well so it makes up for the amount.”

“interactive course, requiring student presentations resulted in a thorough understanding of presentation topics also made us think more about the material as the each of us presenting did not know every single thing about the topics this lead to discussions.”


1.2 Three most important achievements in education:

i) Educating and Innovating:
As an engineer, I love to solve problems. This desire to solve problems led to a my academic career and success in dozens of publications. These publications and inventions are in relation to my research, and other academic pursuits.
With respect to research: In vascular tissue engineering I invented and published on synthetic blood vessels, in soft tissue engineering I invented and published on hernia patches, in novel drug delivery vehicles I invented and published on a new method of drug delivery via ionic crosslinking, in novel drugs to treat peripheral artery disease I invented and published on a drug that led to start-up NangioTx, Inc, and then began my tenure track position.
At NJIT, I have invented (filed IP) on 4 new peptide based drugs. ALL of the above inventions and publications, and startups have involved students from undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral levels.

With respect to engineering:
I have worked fastidiously with student groups to develop a number of different technologies that can benefit the low income and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. One of these projects that over 4 BME undergrads works on was a rapid inexpensive STD test to check for 3 common STDs prior to intercourse. Additionally, team of Mech Eng undergrads are working with me to re-design an “all-in-one” laryngoscope + ET guide for intubation. Yet another team is working on a modified electric toothbrush that allow s for vacuum suction during brushing. These student groups have achieved much success. For example the toothbrush has IP filed (Rutgers and NJIT), and has been awarded a $94,970 Rutgers Office of Commercialization TechAdvance grant.

With respect to social issues:
Parking has been a problem that has caused much grief in my life. I worked with NJIT undergraduate computer science capstone students to develop pullup: Uber for Parking. I filed IP, and upon graduation incorporated Pullup Technologies with the students. We are currently doing a series A fund raise to help encourage adoption of this app. Pullup still continues to actively participate in NJIT’s CS Capstone.

Together, the companies that I have formed have created over 2 dozen jobs, internships and have helped numerous students.

In addition to inventing and developing a path to commercialization with start-ups or licensing; I have had the opportunity to teach about entrepreneurship. I have developed 2 classes to teach entrepreneurship in the biomedical space: BME 698: Biomedical Translation and Entrepreneurship and BME 498: Engineering Better Medicines. Both of these classes were very well liked and teach students who to take a technology from ideation to commercialization; fundamentally what I try to do in my career.

ii) Preparing undergraduate students for STEM careers
I have worked with a number of faculty in BME, CME, Biology, History, community colleges and high schools to build opportunities for STEM education and entrepreneurship. My inter-disciplinary research, and entrepreneurial endeavors have led to a number of initiatives that I focus on promoting STEM careers to highschoolers, undergrads and graduate students
Prelaw: I have recently worked with Prof. Allison Lefkovitz to develop a pre-law mentoring group. I meet with 2 pre-law students every week to discuss patents. My involvement and prolific patenting at NJIT was rewarded with admission to the prestigious IP committee at NJIT. I have been a mainstay at many entrepreneurial events NJIT has hosted, most recently being invited to the BioNJ National Gala with Don Sebastian and Judith Sheft, NJII innovation roundtable, NJII Smart Cities initiative meeting with State Officials.
Prehealth: I sit on both the prehealth and BS-MD admissions committees. These committees have allowed me to interact with students who are pursuing medical careers. Given my extensive training and education in hospital settings (Emory University Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)), and collaboration at Rutgers, Columbia, BCM, Stevens (Hackensack-Meridian), Kean (ISLE), and a number of healthcare startups; I have amassed a wealth pedagogical knowledge. This is notwithstanding personal networks that are extensive in the medical field, and a network of dozens of physicians/ medical students I have connected with students to help in their pre-health careers. Noteworthy is that I personally work with every BME student who is applying to medical school (and does pre-health advising). This often extends into reviewing essays, AMCAS, ACOMAS or similar applications, MCAT/ DAT study plans, internships, and interviewing prep. Finally, I am in the process of developing a “PreHealth 101” syllabus to propose to the Chairs of BME and Biology for all pre-health students to take.
Albert Dorman Honors College: I am a member of the BS-MD admissions committee and a Faculty Fellow. Further I am very invested in the success of ADHC students as many of them are in my research laboratory. Additionally,
Student advising: In a typical work week, at least 8-10 hours are spent with student advising. I start by understanding what the students want to do career-wise, and understand how we can achieve those goals. Numerous students, who are neither in my lab, nor in any of my classes have approached me for advice on admissions into medical school, law school, dental school, graduate school, applying for jobs in industry, startups, entrepreneurship and academia. Through the networks for students I have mentored, I have amassed a large amount of experience and strong network of volunteers to help mentor. One of my biggest goals in education is for each person who is influenced by me or my work to “Pay it forward” and help the next generation of students.


iii) Inclusion and Developing student leaders
There are numerous socio-economic factors that influence and affect our students. I have had a strong policy since day 1 that I will work with ANY student who is willing to put in the effory to succeed. This is true of my second undergrad Henry Cabral who I helped guide into a successful job in industry. Further emblematic is my first graduate student Zain Siddiqui who graduated from NJIT BME in 2017 without a job and a mediocre 3.2 GPA, did not have a finances or socio-economic support to succeed without someone seeing potential in him. With the rigorous mentorship, Zain has published 3 papers, 2 patents and over 4 National Conference presentations (more than any graduate student in their first year to my knowledge). In fact at the 2018 BMES conference he gave his first podium presentation. He is currently a MS student at NJIT who will be sought be the best programs in the country if he does not continue in my lab. Here is some of his work.
1. P. Nguyen, B. Sarkar, Z. Siddiqui, M. McGowan, P. Iglesias-Montoro, S. Rachapudi, S. Kim, W. Gao, E. Lee, V. Kumar*. Self-assembly of an anti-angiogenic nanofibrous peptide hydrogel. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 1, 865, 2018
2. B. Sarkar, P. Nguyen, W. Gao, A. Dondapati, Z. Siddiqui, V. Kumar*. Angiogenic Self-Assembling Peptide Scaffolds for Functional Tissue Regeneration. Biomacromolecules, 19, 3597, 2018
P. Nguyen, W. Gao, S. Patel, Z. Siddiqui, S. Weiner, E. Shimizu, B. Sarkar, V. Kumar*. Self-Assembly of a dentinogenic peptide hydrogel. ACS Omega, 3, 5980, 2018Nguyen P, Gao W, Sarkar B, Siddiqui Z, Patel S, Shimizu E, Weiner S, Kumar VA. Dentinogenic Peptide Hydrogels for Pulpal Regeneration
. Podium. (Materials Research Society, 2018)Sarkar B, Park S, Nguyen PK, Deng D, Fu W, Siddiqui Z, Jaisinghani, S, Paul, R, Zhang, W, Li, M, Perlin, DS, Kumar, VA. Rational design of Antimicrobial Peptide Nanofibers. Poster. (Materials Research Society, 2018)Siddiqui Z, Nguyen PK, Sarkar B, Sabatino D, Kumar VA. Photo-responsive Peptide Hydrogels for Tailored Drug Delivery. Podium. (Materials Research Society, 2018)Siddiqui Z, McGowan M, Nguyen PK, Iglesias-Montoro P, Sarkar B., Kumar VA. Programmable modulation of cellular viability using self-assembled peptide nanofibers. Podium. (Biomedical Engineering Society, 2018)Sarkar B, Nguyen, PK, Jaisinghani S, Paul R, Siddiqui Z., McGowan M, Iglesias-Montoro P, Kumar VA. Self-assembled Antibacterial Peptide Nanofibers Inspired by LL-37. Poster. (Biomedical Engineering Society, 2018)
A number of students I have taught and mentored personally have done exceptionally well in getting admission to top tier medical & dental schools, and industry careers (further emblematic of my interdisciplinary pedagogical structure). Below are a list of 5 (of over 30).
Akhil Dondapati, Engineered scaffolds for neural regeneration, BS-MD, NJIT, current a medical students at NJMS, 2016-2017Henry Cabral, Hydrogel-based HIV vaccines, BS-MS, NJIT, 2016-2017, current a product engineer at McKessonWilliam Gao, Dental pulp tissue engineering, BS-DDS, NJIT, 2016-2018, currently a dental student at RSDMRohit Premkumar, Tissue engineered vascular grafts, NSF i-Corps entrepreneurial lead, NJIT, 2016-2018, currently a scientist at Bristol Myers SquibbJasper Davey, Pullup App, BS, NJIT, 2017, currently a software engineer at Apple
Finally, my mentorship extends to my postdoctoral fellows as well.
At the conclusion of Peter Nguyen’s 2.5 year stint in my lab and Biplab Sarkar’s 1.5 year stint in my lab, both post-docs have published close 6 papers each, 4 patents each, over a dozen abstracts at national conferences, and have part-taken in numerous school activities for outreach. Additionally, both will be spinning out a start-up company – SAPHTx, Inc to commercialize a technology we recently were award a basic science NIH NEI R15 grant and NJHF funding for.

Overview: The KumarLab engineers peptide based materials for a variety of biomedical applications. These engineered biomaterials are tailored to behave as drugs or scaffolds for tissue modulation and regeneration.
Perspective: My research is at the interface of biomolecular engineering, materials science, and synthetic peptide chemistry. My undergraduate work was with Guillermo Ameer, PhD, at Northwestern University. My doctoral work with Elliot Chaikof, MD, PhD, at Georgia Tech and Emory (later at BIDMC, Harvard Medical School) was funded by an American Heart Association pre-doctoral fellowship award. My post-doctoral work with Jefferey Hartgerink, PhD, at Rice University, was funded by an NIH NIDCR NRSA F32 award.
I have developed a fervor for biomedical translation and building platform technologies and teams. These research activities: over a dozen invited presentations, half dozen pitch competitions, 6 peer-reviewed publications, 15 conference abstracts, 2 post-docs, 1 graduate students and over 30 undergraduates mentored (at NJIT alone) has given me and my lab much attention in the scientific and lay media.
My work has been profiled in the Economist, ACS, iFLScience, and over 20 different scientific journals - kumarlab.njit.edu. In summary my career and interests have focused on creating a library of hybrid materials based on tunable, nano-architectured, hierarchically assembled scaffolds that tailor inflammation and angiogenesis. These contributions will augment the “cells, scaffold, growth factor” paradigm for biologically inspired design. Given the domain expertise and strengths of myself, my students and post-docs, we will complement our current prolific efforts, hone and develop additional training skills relevant for academia and industry, and most importantly be mentored on grantsmanship, publication preparation, presentation skills, innovation, and mentorship. Through my experience I hope that the combinations of research and pedagogy materials will:
“I strive to create environments that deliver site-specific combinations of therapies to treat a milieu of pathologies defining the first critical steps in design and efficacy for FDA approved injectable hydrogel-drug therapies.”
4 representative recent publications from my lab:
Nguyen PK, Gao W, Patel SD, Siddiqui Z, Weiner S, Shimizu E, Sarkar B, Kumar VA. Self-Assembly of a Dentinogenic Peptide Hydrogel. ASC Omega. 2018 June 04; 3:5980-5987.Nguyen PK, Sarkar B, Siddiqui Z, McGowan M, Iglesias-Montoro P, Rachapudi S, Kim S, Gao W, Lee E, Kumar VA. Self-assembly of an anti-angiogenic nanofibrous peptide hydrogel. ACS applied bio materials. 2018; 1:865-870.Kumar VA, Shi S, Wang BK, Li IC, Jalan AA, Sarkar B, Wickremasinghe NC, Hartgerink JD. Drug-triggered and cross-linked self-assembling nanofibrous hydrogels. J Am Chem Soc. 2015 Apr 15;137(14):4823-30. PubMed PMID: 25831137; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4624388. Kumar VA, Taylor NL, Shi S, Wang BK, Jalan AA, Kang MK, Wickremasinghe NC, Hartgerink JD. Highly angiogenic peptide nanofibers. ACS Nano. 2015 Jan 27;9(1):860-8. PubMed PMID: 25584521; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4370274. My research interests currently can be broadly summarized as interdisciplinary strategies that focus on: a) drug discovery/ delivery, b) tissue engineering, c) Translation; outlined in the figure on the right.
Drug discovery/ deliveryThe hydrogels and scaffolds synthesized in my laboratory have thixotropic (shear thinning and shear recovering) viscoelastic properties. This allows for syringe aspiration and delivery of in situ boluses of material into distinct tissue sites. My work has shown the biocompatibility and ability of these scaffolds to deliver drugs in vitro and in vivo. Further owing to the tortuous network of the nanofibrous peptide based scaffolds; controlled release from liposomal, micocarrier and (purely) diffusion based delivery systems of small molecules, growth factors and drugs is possible.
Currently there are 3 projects that relate to this:
- Naloxone release: we are interested in delivery of naloxone from peptide hydrogels to aid in opioid recovery management (currently in nociception studies in rat) – 75% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials / controlled release Journals. Looking for large animal abuse recovery collaborator.
- Cartilage tissue engineered scaffolds: we release PPBP and Oxo-M from hydrogel scaffolds to enhance cartilage regeneration. Currently in rat cartilage wound healing model in collaboration with Chang Lee, PhD, Columbia University. – 30% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials / controlled release journals.
- Cholesterol modulating drug: Development of a new class of cholesterol lowering molecules based on the popular PCSK-9 inhibition cascade. (currently testing this new drug in vivo efficacy studies in obese mice). – patent filed and publication 75% complete; publication in Molecular Pharmaceutics / controlled release and Metabolism journals. Looking for large animal cholesterol study collaborator / Genentech/ Regeneron.
Tissue EngineeringGiven the excellent biocompatibility, lack of fibrous encapsulation and demonstrated ability to tune inflammatory environments; we have designed a series of scaffolds that can help regenerate, augment, or attenuate tissue growth. These novel systems are scaffolds that contain specific domains that can activate cell receptors. As such, and in consultation with the office of combination products at the FDA, these materials are classified (broadly) as drugs.
Currently there are 5 projects that relate to this:
- Nerve/ neuron neuroprotective sacaffolds: Development of a neurogenic scaffold that shows neural regeneration (axonal proliferation) after traumatic brain injury in rats, and compatibility after Zerbrafish injury (new drug created by the lab, looking to file IP in 2019) – collaboration with NJIT BME (Prof. James Haorah), Bio (Prof. Kristin Severi). – 85% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials journals. Looking for large animal collaborator. Potential military application.
- Hydrogels for dental pulp revitalization: Evaluation of the dentinogenic peptide in canine root canal models (new drug created by the lab, awaiting canine tooth histology). Collaboration with Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (Dr. Emi Shimizu and Dr. Saul Weiner). – 90% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials / dental journal. IP filed at NJIT. Press conference about technology at ACS National Meeting, Henry Schein (world’s largest dental supplies provider) interested in histology results.
- Tailoring the host response to engineered biomaterials: In 2 separate collaborations with Jian Yang at Penn State, we are evaluating the combinatorial enhancement in biocompatibility when hydrogels to tailor phenotypic response modify synthetic biomaterials. Composites of hydrogel with POC scaffolds with Jian (and hydrogels with PCL scaffolds with Treena Arinzeh, NJIT) are currently in in vivo implants. Note these are 2 distinct collaborations. –10% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials / controlled release Journals. Looking for large animal abuse recovery collaborator.
- Engineered death signals: Development of engineered pro-apoptopic self-assembling peptides as site-specific carriers for in situ tumor destruction. Currently evaluating efficacy of scaffolds in vitro. 10% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials / Cancer journals. Collaboration with NJMS (Dr. Pranela Rameshwar), and potential ectopic tumor specialist.
- Tuning inflammatory environments: we have designed and synthesized anti-inflammatory peptide scaffolds that attenuate monocyte taxis. These scaffolds have showed promise in vivo at attenuating infiltration of scaffolds. – 75% complete, publication in (Bio)Materials journal.
c) Translation
Some of the materials and technologies developed in the KumarLab have progressed to the stage of preclinical and clinical evaluation. A number of technologies have been evaluated in pre-clinical and clinical efficacy models as mentioned above and detailed below.
Currently there are 5 (+2 external) projects that relate to this:
- Drug to treat leading cause of blindness (proliferative eye disease): Evaluation of the anti-angiogenic peptide in a rat diabetic retinopathy model/ wet-Age related macular degeneration model (new drug created by the lab, IP filed at NJIT)– collaboration with Cleveland Clinic Ophthalmology (Alex Yuan, MD, PhD). Awarded: NIH NEI R15 grant, NSF I-Corps National grant and NJHF innovation grant; 1 start-up (SAPHTx.com); 1 patent filed; 1 publication; and 1 STTR applied for.
- Novel anti-bacterial peptide: Evaluation of the anti-microbial efficacy of hydrogel scaffolds for wound healing (new drug created by the lab, patent filed) – collaboration with Seton Hall Chem (Prof. David Sabatino), Rutgers Public Health (Prof. David Perlin), NJIT Civil Engineering (Wen Zhang). 1 publication in review (Nanoletters). R15 grant was not funded. Looking to submit R21 or R01 in Q3/Q4 2019.
- Injectable stem cell carriers: Evaluation of injectable stem cell carriers for myocardial regeneration post-MI – collaboration with NJMS Cardiology Dr. Dominic del Re and NJIT BME (Prof. Eun Jung Lee). 1 publication, applied for R21 (unsuccessful), applying for R01 in Q3 of 2019.
- Cupping for better circulation: Improvement of peripheral muscle circulation with the assistance of cupping, as measured by 5 minute treadmill distance. IRB approved currently recruiting volunteers for study at NJIT.
- Vacuum assisted electric toothbrush. NJIT and Rutgers IRB approved for evaluation of a new electric toothbrush with a vacuum. IP co-filed Rutgers lead, awarded $94,970 from Rutgers TechAdvance award for product development and testing.
Note that one of the technologies was spun out into another startup which is raising funds for preclinical and clinical trials in peripheral artery disease (NangioTx.com).
Note that one of the technologies was spun out into another startup which is raising funds for marketing and customer acquisition of app users (pullup.io).
Overall Overview: I strive to systematically determine how peptide self-assembly can be tuned specifically for receptor activation, dynamic signal presentation, and cellular differentiation in peptide-based scaffolds. While in vivo receptor activation by the functionalized peptide has been demonstrated for preliminary tissue engineering applications, a fundamental set of tools and mechanisms governing (a) functional epitope presentation and (b) tunable signaling for cell-surface receptors is still needed.
Intellectual Merit: By developing tools to tailor material-cellular interactions, biochemical switches capable of driving cellular phenotype can be established. I collaborate with clinical researchers to further investigate these functionalized scaffolds for other in vitro and in vivo applications (for example, pro-dentinogenic scaffolds). By establishing a set of rules that optimize hierarchical self-assembly of the nanofibers and the mimic presentation on the nanofibers, the work delineated here will first nurture students’ interests in basic science relevant to their career goals. Second, I will educate students in peptide design, synthesis and characterization. Third, it will train the next generation of STEM student innovators in grantsmanship, presentations, publications, and patents.
Broader Impacts: The tools and mechanisms studied will facilitate rational design of peptide-based constructs. Specifically, understanding spacer optimization and caging strategies relevant to signaling domains A core focus of this proposal would be to develop the platform where undergraduate and graduate student scientists can lead self-assembled peptide design and optimize the scaffolds for specific cellular signaling. I hope to develop a program to mentor undergraduate researchers, with a strong commitment to recruit at least 50% women and underrepresented minorities. The models, materials, and technologies developed herein will be incorporated into lectures, webinars, and pedagogical tools for wider dissemination. These will serve as resources for design of instructive scaffolds for 3D tissue engineering with tailorable signaling.

Angiogenic peptides for aligned vasculature development for muscle regeneration
Develop a self-assembling angiogenic peptide that can be injected into a collagen scaffold as an implant to induce volumetric muscle regeneration.

Angiogenic peptides for dental pulp regeneration
Angiogenic injectable scaffolds that can regenerate dental pulp after a root canal.

CRISPR for in situ genetic engineering
Explore and understand the process of genetic engineering at cellular level. With the help of CRISPR technology, cellular transfection will be tested to assess mRNA delivery to the nucleus and provide green fluorescence to the cells, using GFP.

Development of antimicrobial scaffolds
Modification of peptide scaffolds for infected wound healing hydrogel formation.

Development of novel COVID-19 therapeautics
Develop and test a peptide hydrogel that prevents COVID-19 virus from binding and infecting ACE-2 receptors of respiratory tissue

Devleoping safer vaping e-Liquids.
Investigate how to aerosolize self-assembling peptides for drug delivery into the oral cavity, as a replacement for typical oils (PG/VG) present in e-cigarettes and other vaping products.

Diabetic Fracture Healing with the use of IGF-1
Develop and test IGF-1 and LIPUS treatments to improve diabetic fracture healing by downregulation of FOXO1 and enhanced expression of ciliary proteins and ciliogenesis.

Islet encapsulation to promote transplate survival
Engineer injectable hydrogels to deliver encapsulated islets - minimizing immune response while promoting vascularization, perfusion and long-term uptake.

Long-term naloxone release for opioid overdose and addiction management.
Develop a formulation of naloxone that binds to the mu-opioid receptors and has an extended half life to manage opioid addicition and renarcotization

Materials for cartilage regeneration
​​​​Controlled release of PPBP and Oxo-M for cartilage regeneration.

Myocardial regeneration
Using peptide hydrogels to encapsulate and deliver cells to the heart after heart attacks for myocardial regeneration.

Nanobubble toothbrush
Develop a toothbrush capable of delivering nano bubbles to kill oral bacteria.

Neurogenesis after traumatic brain injury.
Evaluate efficacy of IV or intracranial injected peptides in rat TBI model.

Nonviral mRNA cellular transfection
Develop and optimize a hydrogel formulation to aid in non-viral vector intracellular mRNA transfection

Novel Cupping peptide therapy for vascular disease
Develop a non-invasive therapy for patients peripheral artery disease.

Optimizing biocompatibility of neural probes
Coating intracortical neural probe implants with neurogenic and angiogenesis peptides to enhance biocompatibility and signal transduction.

PCSK9 enzyme inhibitors to lower LDL-c
Develop and test a hydrogel as a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme PCSK9 to increase expression of LDL receptors and lower LDL cholesterol

Peptide inhibitors of wet-AMD and DR
Development of intro ocular therapeutics to decrease neovascularization in Wet-AMD And DR.

Peptide modulators of inflammation
Development of anti-MCP-1 binding peptides to modulate inflammation.

Promotion of hair growth through angiogenic and tropic factors
Utilize the angiogenic and tropic factor inducing properties of the GHK-Cu protein complex in order to induce/increase hair growth in troubled areas. Hair loss is detrimental to a person's self-esteem and a solution to this problem is sought out by the 50% of the population that is affected by it.

Stabilization of oral vaccine formulations
Utilize the shelf stability of ketchup to temperature stabilize oral vaccinations. This will make oral vaccinations more readily available to underdeveloped countries by eliminating the need for refrigeration during transport and storage.

Tissue engineering a small diameter blood vessel
Using acellular matrices with angiogenic and inflammatory mediating peptide scaffolds for bypass graft fabrication.

Toothbrush for fluid evacuation
Develop a cost-efficient toothbrush containing a vacuum which sucks fluids into a container thus assisting patients with dysphagia

Vascularization of biopolymers
Modification of biodegradable polymers for robust in situ in vivo angiogenesis.

Multidomain peptides for promoting angiogenesis


Parking spot reservation system and method


Self-assembling drug delivery vehicles with ionically crosslinked drugs direct immune signals


Author Correction: Antiviral fibrils of self-assembled peptides with tunable compositions.
Nature communications, February 2024

Alternative Antibiotics in Dentistry: Antimicrobial Peptides
Pharmaceutics, August 2022

Robang, A S, & Roy, A, & Dodd-O, J B, & He, D, & Le , J V, & McShan, A C, & Hu, Y, & Kumar, Vivek A., & Paravastu, A K (2024). Structural Consequences of Introducing Bioactive Domains to Designer β-Sheet Peptide Self-Assemblies.. Biomacromolecules,

Roy, A, & Hao, L, & Francisco, J, & Guan, J, & Mareedu, S, & Zhai, P, & Dodd-O, J, & Heffernan, C, & Del Re, D, & Lee EJA, , & Kumar, Vivek A. (2024). Injectable Peptide Hydrogels Loaded with Murine Embryonic Stem Cells Relieve Ischemia In Vivo after Myocardial Infarction.. Biomacromolecules, 25(2), 1319-1329.

Dodd-O, J, & Roy, A, & Siddiqui, Z, & Jafari, R, & Coppola, F, & Ramasamy, S, & Kolloli, A, & Kumar, D, & Kaundal, S, & Zhao, B, & Kumar, R, & Robang, A S, & Li , J, & Azizogli, A R, & Pai, V, & Acevedo-Jake, A, & Heffernan, C, & Lucas, A, & McShan, A C, & Paravastu, A K, & Prasad BVV, , & Subbian, S, & Král, P, & Kumar, Vivek A. (2024). Antiviral fibrils of self-assembled peptides with tunable compositions.. Nature communications, 15(1), 1142.

Roy, A, & Dodd-O, J B, & Robang, A S, & He, D, & West, O, & Siddiqui, Z, & Aguas, E D, & Goldberg, H, & Griffith, A, & Heffernan, C, & Hu, Y, & Paravastu, A K, & Kumar, Vivek A. (2024). Self-Assembling Peptides with Insulin-Like Growth Factor Mimicry.. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 16(1), 364-375.

Kumar, Vivek A. (2023). Comparison of SGLT1, SGLT2, and Dual Inhibitor biological activity in treating Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

A template-based fabrication technique for spatially-designed polymer micro/nanofiber composites
2009

Poly (diol citrate) nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical properties
2006

Frontiers in Dentistry
Editorial Review Board Member, 2020

ACS Advanced Materials and Interfaces
Reviewer, Journal Article, 2019

Bioactive Materials
, 2019

Chemical Engineering Journal
Reviewer, Journal Article, 2019

Drug Delivery and Translational Research
Reviewer, Journal Article, 2019