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Dr. Amit Kunwar

Scientific officer
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
3-160-S, Mod Lab, Radiation & Photochemistry Division
 

Brief Biography:


Dr. Amit Kunwar is a scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India. He received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Banaras Hindu University and Master of Science in Biotechnology from Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, India. Later he joined National Center for Cell Science, Pune, India as junior research fellow (CSIR) under the guidance of Dr (Mrs). S. Bapat. After working for a year in field of cancer biology, Dr. Amit Kunwar joined B.A.R.C. training school and after successful completion of one-year orientation course, he was absorbed as Scientific Officer in Radiation & Photochemistry Division. In 2009, he earned his Ph. D degree from Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai under the guidance of Dr. K.I. Priyadarsini. During the last five years, he has carried out excellent research work on mechanistic aspects of antioxidants, oxidative stress, radioprotection using in vitro and in vivo models, in vitro cellular uptake and imaging studies. During this short period of his research carrier, he has more than 25 research publications in reputed international journals. His work has been well appreciated and cited by peers of the above field. Dr. Kunwar has presented his work in several national and international conferences and has won awards. In recognition to his work , He was conferred “Young Investigator Award” from the society of Free Radical Research, India in 2007 and “Lester Pecker Young Investigator Award” in 2010 from the Oxygen Club of California, USA and "Young Scientist Award" from Department of Atomic Energy, India in 2011. He is also serving the "Journal of Medical and Allied Sciences" as an associate editor.

 

Academic positions:


2011-Present: Scientific Officer – E, Radiation & Photochemistry Division, BARC, India

2007-2011: Scientific Officer – D, Radiation & Photochemistry Division, BARC, India

2005-2007: Scientific Officer – C, Radiation & Photochemistry Division, BARC, India

2004-2005: Trainee Scientific Officer, Bio-medical Group, BARC, India

2003-2004: Junior Research Fellow (CSIR), National Centre for Cell science, Pune, India

2001-2003: Junior Research Fellow (ICAR), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India

 

Research interests:


His main research interest focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms of radiation induced oxidative stress (ROS production, biochemical and physiological changes, induction of apoptosis) in vitro and in vivo model system. He has extensively investigated the strategies to mitigate this damage using natural and synthetic organoselenium compounds. Further, he has also worked on the development of multifunctional compounds such as metal chelates of polyphenols as superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimics and selenium compounds as glutathione peroxidase (GPx) mimics and evaluation of their redox properties to understand the differential behavior of pro-oxidant/antioxidant of such compounds in cells. Additionally, he has also worked on the fluorescence imaging of a known antitumor agent, curcumin in normal and tumor cells.

 

Any other information:


Journal Publications  

2012

 

1) Inactivation of A. Ochraceous spores and detoxification of Ochratoxin A in coffee beans by gamma radiation processing

S. Kumar, A. Kunwar, S. Gautam, A. Sharma

J. Food Science 2012 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2011.02572.x)

 2011

1) Dimethoxycurcumin-induced cell death in human breast carcinoma MCF7 cells: Evidence for pro-oxidant activity, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis

A. Kunwar*, S. Jayakumar, A.K. Srivastava, K.I. Priyadarsini

Arch. Toxicol. 2011 (DOI: 10.1007/s00204-011-0786-y).

 2) Free radicals, oxidative stress and importance of antioxidants in human health (Review article)

A. Kunwar* and K.I. Priyadarsini

Journal of Medical and Allied Sciences 2011, 1(2):53-60.

 3) Anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities of 3,3'-diselenodipropionic acid in mice exposed to whole body γ-radiation

A. Kunwar*, P.P. Bag, S. Chattopadhyay, V.K. Jain, K.I. Priyadarsini

Arch. Toxicol. 2011, 85:1395-1405.

 4) Differential antioxidant/pro-oxidant activity of dimethoxycurcumin, a synthetic analogue of curcumin (Review article)

A. Kunwar, A. Barik, S. K. Sandur, K. I. Priyadarsini

Free Radic. Res. 2011, 45: 959-965.

 5) Interaction of a curcumin analogue dimethoxycurcumin with DNA

A. Kunwar*,E. Simon, U. Singh, R. K. Chittela, D. Sharma, S. K. Sandur, K. I. Priyadarsini

Chem. Biol. Drug Design 2011, 77: 281-287.

 6) Protective effects of Selenocystine against g-radiation induced genotoxicity in Swiss albino mice

A. Kunwar*, S. Jayakumar, H.N. Bhilwade, P. P. Bag, H. Bhatt, R.C. Chaubey, K.I. Priyadarsini

Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 2011, 50: 271–280.

 7) Anti-hemolytic and peroxyl radical scavenging ability of organoselenium compounds

Santhosh Kumar B, A. Kunwar, B. Singh, A. Ahmad, K. I. Priyadarsini

Biol Trace Elem Res. 2011, 140: 127-138.

 8) Potent free radical scavenging ability of sunphenon: A green tea polyphenol

S. Kaviarasan, A. S. Sivakumar, A. Barik, A. Kunwar, G. H. Naik, K. I. Priyadarsini

J. Food Biochem. 2011, 35: 596-612.

 * - Corresponding author

 2010

 1) In vivo radioprotection studies of 3,3'-Diselenodipropionic acid (DSePA), a selenocystine derivative

A. Kunwar, P. Bansal, S. Jaya Kumar, P.P. Bag, P. Paul, N.D. Reddy, L.B. Kumbhare, V.K. Jain, R.C. Chaubay, M.K Unnikrishnan, K.I. Priyadarsini

Free. Radic. Biol. Med. 2010, 48: 399-410.

 2) Anti-unlcer and antimicrobial activities of sodium selenite against Helicobacter pylori: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

Santhosh Kumar B, Santhosh K. Tiwari, G. Manoj, A. Kunwar, N. Amrita, G. Sivaram, Z. Abid, A. Ahmad, A. A. Khan, K.I. Priyadarsini

Scand. J. Infect. Dis. 2010, 42: 266-274.

 3) Antibacterial and ulcer healing effects of organo-selenium compounds in naproxen induced and Helicobacter pylori infected Wistar rat model

B. Santhosh Kumar, Santosh K. Tiwari, R Saikant, G Manoj, A. Kunwar, Sivaram G, Zakia Abid, Adeel Ahmad, Aleem A. Khan,K. Indira Priyadarsini.

J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2010, 24:263-70.

 2009

1) Curcumin mediates time and concentration dependent regulation of redox homeostasis leading to cytotoxicity in macrophage cells.

A. Kunwar*, S. K. Sandur, M. Krishna, K. I. Priyadarsini

Eur. J. Pharmacol. 2009, 611: 8-16.

* - Corresponding author

2) Differential free radical scavenging activity and radioprotection of Caesalpinia Digyna extracts and its active constituent.

U. Singh, A. Kunwar, R. Srinivasan, M. J. Nanjan, K. I. Priyadarsini

J. Radiat. Res. (Tokyo) 2009, 50: 425-33.

 3) In vitro radioprotection studies of organoselenium compounds: differences between mono- and diselenides.

Santhosh Kumar B, A. Kunwar, A. Ahmad, L. B. Kumbhare, V. K. Jain, K. I. Priyadarsini

Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 2009, 48: 379–384.

 2008

1) Quantitative cellular uptake, localization and cytotoxicity of curcumin in normal and tumor cells

A. Kunwar, A. Barik, B. Mishra, K. Rathinasamy, R. Pandey, K. I. Priyadarsini

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2008, 1780: 673-679.

 2) Correlating the GPx activity of selenocystine derivatives with one-electron redox reactions

B. Mishra, A. Barik, A. Kunwar, L. B. Kumbhare, K. I. Priyadarsini, V. K. Jain

Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon Related Elements 2008, 183: 1018–1025.

 3) Concentration dependent antioxidant/pro-oxidant activity of curcumin studies from AAPH induced hemolysis of RBCs.

A. Banerjee, A. Kunwar, B. Mishra, K. I. Priyadarsini

Chem. Biol. Interact. 2008, 174: 134-9.

 2007

 1) Delayed activation of PKCdelta and NFkappaB and higher radioprotection in splenic lymphocytes by copper (II)-Curcumin (1:1) complex as compared to curcumin.

A. Kunwar, H. Narang, K.I. Priyadarsini, M. Krishna, R. Pandey, K.B. Sainis

J. Cell. Biochem. 2007, 102: 1214-24.

 2) Interaction of curcumin with human serum albumin: Thermodynamic properties, Fluorescence energy transfer and Denaturation effects

A. Barik, B. Mishra, A. Kunwar, K. I. Priyadarsini

Chem. Phys.Lett. 2007, 436: 239-243.

 3) 3, 3'-Diselenodipropionic acid, an efficient peroxyl radical scavenger and a GPx mimic, protects erythrocytes from AAPH induced haemolysis

A. Kunwar, B. Mishra, A. Barik, L. B. Kumbhare, R. Pandey, V. K. Jain, K. I. Priyadarsini

Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2007, 20:1482-1487.

 4) Effect of curcumin and curcumin copper complex (1: 1) on radiation induced changes of anti-oxidant enzymes levels in the livers of Swiss albino mice

K. R. Prabhakar, V. P. Veerapur, A. Kunwar, B. Mishra, A. Barik, K. 1. Priyadarsini, M. K. Unnikrishnan

J. Rad. Res. (Tokyo) 2007, 48: 241-245.

 5) Comparative study of copper(II)-curcumin complexes as superoxide dismutase mimics and free radical scavengers

A. Barik, B. Mishra, A. Kunwar, R. M. Kadam, L. Shen, S. Dutta, S. Padhye, A. K. Satpati, Hong-Yu Zhang, K. I. Priyadarsini

Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2007, 42: 431-439.

 2006

 1) Transport of liposomal and albumin loaded curcumin to living cells: An absorption and fluorescence study.

A. Kunwar, A. Barik, R. Pandey, K. I. Priyadarsini

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2006, 1760: 1513-1520.

 2) Relative free radical scavenging ability, GPx activity and in vitro radioprotection by two selenocysteine derivatives

K.I. Priyadarsini, Beena Mishra, A. Kunwar, Santosh Kumar, Leeladhar Kumbhar, Vimal K Jain

Free. Radic. Biol. Med. 2006, 41: S14.

 2005

 

1) Snail and Slug are major determinants of ovarian cancer invasiveness at the transcription level.

N. K. Kurrey, Amit K and S. A. Bapat.

Gynecologic Oncology 2005, 97: 155-165.

 

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