Rate My Professor Naresh Kumar

Professor Naresh Kumar is a Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry within the Faculty of Science at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. He earned his BSc (Hons) from Punjab Agricultural University, where he received the University Medal in Chemistry in 1979, and completed his PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Wollongong in 1983. Following his doctoral studies, he joined UNSW as a Research Scientist in the School of Chemistry. He was appointed Lecturer in 2003 and progressed to full Professor of Chemistry in 2009, holding a full-time research and teaching position. His career includes visiting professorships at Gifu University in Japan in 2016 and Gajah Mada University in Indonesia in 2018. Professor Kumar has been recognized with the 2012 UNSW Staff Award for Excellence in Community Outreach and the 2016 Science Teachers' Association of NSW Outstanding Service Award. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Bioorganic Chemistry section of Molecules since 2019 and supervises a multidisciplinary team including PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.

Professor Kumar's research centers on synthetic organic chemistry, natural products chemistry, medicinal chemistry, heterocyclic chemistry, and biomaterials, with a focus on designing and synthesizing biologically active molecules for medical and industrial applications. Key projects include quorum sensing inhibitors and antimicrobial peptide mimics targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, inhibitors of bacterial transcription initiation, novel anticancer agents such as heterocyclic analogues of isoflavones and USP5 inhibitors, antimicrobial biomaterials for bone grafts, orthopaedic implants, and hydrogels, as well as PFAS remediation and disinfection strategies against microbes, viruses, and microbiologically induced corrosion. His group employs molecular modelling, analytical chemistry, and biological screening in collaborations with experts in biology and engineering. Over his career, he has produced 573 journal articles, 10 book chapters, 46 conference papers, and 5 patents, supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council. Highly cited works include 'Attenuation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence by quorum sensing inhibitors' (2003), 'Quorum-sensing cross talk: isolation and chemical characterization of cyclic dipeptides from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Gram-negative bacteria' (1999), and 'A new era of antibiotics: the clinical potential of antimicrobial peptides' (2020). His publications have accumulated over 20,000 citations, underscoring his substantial influence in organic and medicinal chemistry.