University of Houston · PharmacologyKumar Lab
Ashok Kumar · Houston, Texas
Research Focus
Dr. Ashok Kumar’s lab at the University of Houston focuses on understanding skeletal muscle wasting, particularly in the context of cancer and aging. They investigate signaling pathways that contribute to muscle loss and how these pathways can be targeted for potential therapies. Another area of research includes studying Rhabdomyosarcoma, a childhood cancer, where they explore how certain proteins promote tumor growth and differentiation. The ultimate goal is to find effective treatments for muscle-related conditions and cancers that affect muscle tissue.
skeletal muscle wastingcancer cachexiaRhabdomyosarcomaTWEAKFn14UPR signalingTAK1tumorigenesismuscle differentiation
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate the role of TWEAK/Fn14 signaling in muscle wasting during aging and cancer cachexia.
AIM 02Examine how TWEAK activates UPR pathways to cause muscle atrophy.
AIM 03Explore the mechanisms through which TAK1 promotes tumorigenesis in Rhabdomyosarcoma.
AIM 04Assess the impact of TAK1 inhibition on differentiation of Rhabdomyosarcoma cells.
AIM 05Evaluate the therapeutic potential of TAK1 inhibitors in preclinical models of Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturemouse modelsWestern blotRNA sequencinggenetic ablationpharmacological inhibitionin vitro assaysxenograft modelsimmunohistochemistry
Output against the department
Publications974top 2% of dept.9th of 462
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations57ktop 3% of dept.16th of 462
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.