Biography
- Division:
- Division of Basic and Integrative Biological Sciences – DBIB
- Review Branch:
- Macromolecular Biophysics and Biological Chemistry – MBBC
- Study Section:
- Maximizing Investigators' Research Award E – MRAE
Dr. Vandana Kumari earned her Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry, specializing in structure-based drug discovery at the College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University. She pursued her postdoctoral training at the Center for Structural Biology (formerly Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, where she studied and developed small molecule inhibitors for several targets related to cancer, bacterial and viral (HIV) diseases. Before coming to CSR, Dr. Kumari was a scientist at Leidos Biomedical Research Inc. (Frederick National Laboratory), where she worked at NCI Ras initiative. Dr. Kumari’s research centered on discovery and design of small molecule inhibitors targeting oncogenic Ras, Ras related proteins and other GTPases. Her research led to multiple U.S. patents. Her area of expertise includes computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, x-ray crystallography, biochemistry, biophysical methods, and molecular biology.
