T. Rajendra Kumar, PhD

Associate Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology (Primary appointment)

Ph.D., University of Delhi, 1989; Postdoctoral, Vollum Institute, Portland 1990-1993
Postdoctoral, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1993-1996

Laboratory: Lied 3007,3009

Phone: 913 588-0415

KUMC Center/Institute Affiliation(s):

Member, Center for Reproductive Sciences
Member, Mental Retardation Research Center
Member, Institute of Maternal-Fetal Biology

Research Interests

Regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (hpg) axis is a complex process. It involves a network of autocrine, paracrine and endocrine interactions among multiple factors. Alterations within this network can lead to abnormalities of reproductive tract development and may result in infertility and formation of gonadal cancers. Over the past several years, research in he Kumar lab has been directed towards elucidating these interactions at all three levels of the hpg axis using both gain-of-function (transgenic) and loss-of-function (gene knockout) approaches. Currently, research efforts in Kumar lab are focused using these unique mouse models that phenocopy human reproductive diseases. Specific projects include unraveling signaling pathways in the medial preoptic area that contribute to male sexual behavior, understanding human pituitary null cell adenoma, mechanisms of secretion of pituitary gonadotropins, and delineating mechanisms of gonadotropin regulation of testis and ovarian development and function. These studies are clinically relevant and will have significant impact in understanding the physiology and pathology of the mammalian reproductive axis.

Select Recent Publications

1. Matzuk MM, Kumar TR, Vassali A, Bickenbach JR, Roop DR, Jaenisch R and Bradley A. (1995). Functional analysis of activins in mammalian development. Nature 374: 354-356.
2. Matzuk MM, Kumar TRand Bradley, A. (1995). Different phenotypes for mice deficient in either activins or activin receptor type II. Nature 374: 356-360.
3. Kumar TR, Lu H, Wang Y, and Matzuk MM. (1997) Follicle Stimulating hormone is required for ovarian follicle maturation but not male fertility. Nature Genetics 15: 201-204.
4. Kumar TR, Graham KE, Asa SL and Low MJ. (1998) Simian Virus 40-T Antigen induced gonadotroph adenomas: a model of human null-cell adenomas. Endocrinology 139: 3342-3351.
5. Kumar TR , Palapattu G, Woodruff TK, Boime I and Matzuk MM. (1999) Transgenic models for gonadotropin function: The role of FSH in gonadal growth and tumorigenesis. Molec. Endocrinol.13:851-865.
6. Matzuk MM, Hadsell, LA, De Mayo F and Kumar TR . (2003) Overexpression of human chorionic gonadotropin in transgenic mice causes multiple reproductive defects. Biology of Reproduction, 69: 338-346.
7. Kumar TR (2004) Divide and differentiate: ghrelin instructs the Leydig cells. News & Views Editorial, Endocrinology 145:4822-4824.
8. Ma X, Dong YL, Matzuk MM and Kumar TR. (2004) Targeted mutagenesis of LH b leads to hypogonadism, defects in steroidogenesis and infertility. PNAS ( USA) 101: 17294-17299.
9. Garcia-Campayo V, Boime I, Xiaoping Ma, Iken DD and Kumar TR (2005) A tetradomain single chain glycoprotein hormone analog elicits multiple hormone activities in vivo. Biol Reprod, 72: 301-308.
10. Ma X, Reyna A, Mani SK, Matzuk MM and Kumar TR Impaired male sexual behavior and reduced NOS activity in the medial pre-optic area in activin receptor II knockout mice. (Submitted to PNAS)