Sanjay Kumar

Sanjay Kumar, M.D., Ph.D., serves as Chancellor's Professor and Director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at UC Berkeley (QB3-Berkeley). His primary academic appointment is in the Department of Bioengineering within the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he chaired the department from 2019-2022. He holds additional joint appointments in the UC Berkeley Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Dr. Kumar's research focuses on the intersection of bioengineering, mechanobiology, and cancer research, particularly examining how physical forces and the extracellular matrix influence cell behavior in healthy and disease states. His laboratory specializes in developing engineered biomaterial platforms to study glioblastoma invasion, neural stem cell differentiation, and cell-matrix interactions. The lab has pioneered the use of hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels to model brain microenvironments and investigate how mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix regulate cellular processes.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on understanding the mechanobiology of glioblastoma invasion, neural stem cell fate decisions in response to matrix mechanics, and the biophysical properties of cellular structures like neurofilaments. The research shows a consistent pattern of investigating how mechanical cues translate into biochemical signaling pathways that drive cellular behaviors.

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
• NIH Director's New Innovator Award
• Beckman Young Investigator Award
• NSF CAREER Award
• Stem Cells Young Investigator Award

Dr. Kumar has mentored over 30 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and currently leads a diverse research team including postdoctoral fellows, PhD students in bioengineering, chemical engineering, and biophysics, as well as undergraduate researchers. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and has served on the governing boards of BMES and CMBE.