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.
Latest Lab News and Blogs:
Vivek gives keynote at CV4Animals
Vivek gave a remote keynote address for CV4Animals held in Nashville, TN. The talk can be found here.
Free eggs!
One of the perks of being in Bar Harbor - lab folks provide free eggs (Olivia from Rosenthal lab in this case)!
Jake invited to share migraine ethology at IBANGS
This June Jake Beierle, post doctoral fellow in the lab, was invited to share his work at the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society meeting this year, and was recognized as an outstanding travel awardee. The work Jake shared leverages advances in...
Vivek presents at the AGE meeting Shock Center Symposium
Vivek attended and presented at the 2025 AGE meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. Vivek was part of the Shock Center Director's Symposium. He presented on Gautam's frailty index work.
Clearing the way for Butterflies!
Marina Santos, Jaycee Choi, and Fionna Kennedy (L-R) helped with spring cleaning at the Charlotte Rhoades Garden & Butterfly Park on May 1st. The crew helped the garden staff prep for their big release date on July 31, 2025. This involved raking and clearing the...
Celebrating Tom’s 30th year at JAX
Tom Sproule (RAIII) has completed his 30th year at JAX! We celebrated with a lab made cakes.
DO Frailty paper is now published in GeroScience
Free link here! Nice job, Gautam. https://rdcu.be/edXnG
The Kumar Lab is climbing the walls
On the evening of April 23rd, members of the Kumar Lab took advantage of the special "Jax Night" at the Volta climbing gym. These four strong women fearlessly scaled the walls. It was great fun!
Vivek Attends ODIN Conference at The Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics
Vivek attended the ODIN symposium, sponsored by The Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The 2025 Open Data in Neurophysiology (ODIN) Symposium group seeks to fill the pressing need to bridge scales and modalities in our...
Vivek gives inaugural Maine INBRE Data Science Colloquium talk
The talk was at the University of Maine, Orono hosted by Drs. Ben King and Joel Graber. Several members of the lab attended the lecture.
The first Envision Discovery Rack is installed in the Kumar Lab
On April 2, 2025 Allentown and JAX installed the first Discovery Rack in the Kumar Lab. The lab has been working together with a large team on its development over the past 2+years. The system is based on the work that the Kumar Lab has done over the past 8 years. We...
Kumar Lab featured in an article in The Scientist
Our paper that describes the new DIV Sys (aka Envision) was featured in The Scientist. https://www.the-scientist.com/ai-powered-tech-enables-continuous-lab-animal-monitoring-72714 More info here https://www.jax.org/envision AI-Powered Tech Enables Continuous Lab...
