Suresh Kumar, PhD, is a senior director of R&D at Progenra Inc. Dr. Kumar joined Progenra in 2007, where he established cellular proof-of-concept for Progenra’s DUB and E3 ligase modulators. Subsequently, he supervised successful high throughput screening campaigns that identified novel small molecule modulators of ubiquitin pathway enzymes. High-throughput screening is a drug discovery process that allows automated testing of large numbers of chemical and/or biological compounds for a specific biological target. He also manages Progenra’s academic collaborations and has served as principal investigator on several NIH grant-funded projects

He received his doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, where he investigated the role of calcium-dependent protein kinase in plant growth and development. Dr. Kumar pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine, where he studied the role of the protein ubiquitin in regulating certain key cytokine receptors. In particular, he discovered that a ubiquitin enzyme, or ligase, called SCF-betaTrcP, was responsible for degrading the interferon alpha receptor which, in turn, reduces the efficacy of interferon treatment in malignant melanoma.