Welcome
We are a group of geneticists, neuroscientists, and computer scientists who are passionate about discoveries of novel targets and models for mental illness through innovation at the confluence of computational, genetic, and genomic methods.
The Kumar Laboratory is located at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. We study neural circuits in the brain whose misregulation leads to behavioral abnormalities including addiction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and depression. Using mouse molecular genetics as a foundation, and a combination of computational, biochemistry, physiology, and imaging techniques, we dissect these complex conditions in mammals.
Primarily, we use functional genomic approaches in mice to identify genes and pathways that regulate these behaviors. We seek to develop better models of human diseases that can be used by the biomedical research community for therapeutics. Recently, we have applied machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to understand animal behavior at high spatial and temporal resolution, objectively, and over long periods of time. Our work has been published in numerous high impact journals such as Science, eLife, Nature Communications Biology, among others.
Latest Lab News and Blogs:
Fall 2024
Fall 2024 is here! This is one our my favorite trees in Bar Harbor. It's on Ledgelawn on way to JAX.
Yehya Wins Out to Innovate Award
Congratulations to Yehya on getting this award. They proposed to continue to study the Crichton mouse model of age dependent changes in behavior. The Out to Innovate™ Scholarships, established in 2011, are intended for LGBTQ+ undergraduate and graduate students...
Cayson and Lucia graduate from the 2024 JAX SSP program
Both Cayson and Lucia finished their 10 week program. Their presentations were fantastic. We wish them luck as they return to college for the fall semester. Here are some photos. [gallery columns="4"...
Malachy’s paper is published in Cell Patterns
Malachy worked for two years on how to use computer vision to determine mouse mass. We are really proud of his accomplishment! Gautam and Brian both were critical in his success. We look forward to all that Malachy will accomplish. Paper link...
Vivek speaks at the Maine Opioid Summit on the Genetics of Addiction
Vivek spoke about the genetics of addiction at Governor Mill's Main Opioid Summit. This was the second year Vivek spoke at this event. https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/2024/july/jax-researchers-present-addiction-research-and-offer-hope-at-maine-opioid-s...
Kumar Lab Friends of Acadia Soil Heroes!
Here in the Kumar lab, the D in PhD stands for Dirt! As part of The Jackson Lab's commitment to community service the lab carried up ~80 lbs of dirt to the summits of Mt Penobscot and Mt Sargent as part of the summit restoration project! Climate change and human...
Some useful links