Doctorate at Michigan State University, United States
👨🎓 Profile
🎓 Academic Background & Education:
Dr. P. P. Praveen Kumar holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi (2011-2016), where he focused on molecular recognition and self-assembling peptide-based systems. He earned his Master’s in Organic Chemistry from Christ College, Irinjalakuda (2007-2009), with an impressive grade of 85%. His undergraduate degree in Chemistry was completed at ST. Thomas College, Thrissur (2004-2007), where he achieved a high grade of 91%.
💼 Professional Experience:
Dr. Kumar is currently a Research Associate at Michigan State University (Aug 2023 – Present), working under Prof. Kim Taeho in the Biomedical Engineering Department. His research involves fabricating contrasting agents for tumor bioimaging, including MRI, Photoacoustic Imaging, and Magnetic Particle Imaging. Prior to this, he served as a Research Professor at the KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University (Jan 2021 – Aug 2023), where he focused on SERS tags and chiral materials for biomedical applications. His postdoctoral research at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, India (Mar 2017 – Jan 2020), under Prof. Prakash P. N, involved fabricating Gold-BODIPY nanocomposites for photonics and photodynamic therapy.
🔬 Research Interests:
Dr. Kumar’s research interests are centered on designing and synthesizing self-assembled materials for advanced biomedical applications. His work includes the development of nanomaterials for imaging and therapeutic purposes, such as MRI and Photoacoustic Imaging. He is particularly focused on chiral nanostructures and their optical applications, as well as creating luminescent materials and photosensitizers for bio-imaging and photodynamic therapy. Additionally, he explores peptide/amino acid-based catalysis and asymmetric catalysis.
🛠️ Skills & Techniques:
He possesses extensive skills in nanomaterial fabrication, bioimaging, and advanced characterization techniques, including NMR, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, and Raman Spectroscopy. Dr. Kumar is also proficient in various imaging technologies, such as Photoacoustic, MRI, MPI, and IVIS.
🏆 Honors & Awards:
Dr. Kumar has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the BK21 Fellowship from the Korean Government (2021), the SERB-NPDF Fellowship from DST, India (2017-2020), and the CSIR-JRF/SRF Fellowship (2011-2016).
📖 Publications