Vinay Kumar

Vinay Kumar is an authority on the cellular and molecular biology of natural killer cells, Kumar has been a leader in understanding the origin and differentiation of these cells and their role in the rejection of transplanted bone marrow. He is also an author of Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease and Robbins Basic Pathology, the two most widely used texts books of Pathology. His laboratory is interested in the cellular and molecular biology of murine natural killer (NK) cells. These cells are believed to act as the first line of defense against tumors and viral infections. In addition they secrete a variety of cytokines including 1FN-g and GM-CSF that can influence the inflammatory response. Two aspects of NK cell biology are of particular interest: the development of NK cells from multipotent progenitor cells, and the identification of NK cell receptors and their ligands.