Published on: May 12, 2026
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, successfully organized the inaugural lecture of its prestigious International Talk Series on 12th May 2026 at the Charak Lecture Theatre II. The session featured Dr. Sumit Kumar, Lead Medicinal Scientist, Neurotargeting Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway, as the distinguished guest speaker.
The program commenced with the formal welcome of the guest speaker.
The speaker was then formally introduced, highlighting his impressive academic and professional journey. Dr. Sumit Kumar holds an M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, and completed his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (2019) under the supervision of Prof. Vipan Kumar at the same university. He has gained rich international postdoctoral research experience as a medicinal chemist at the H3D Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and at Seoul National University, South Korea. He also worked as a research associate and medicinal chemist in the Indian pharmaceutical industry before moving abroad. Currently, he is working as lead medicinal scientist at the Neurotargeting Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway.
Dr. Sumit Kumar delivered an outstanding, insightful, and highly engaging lecture on “How Do We Discover Medicines? Multidisciplinary Approaches in Neuroscience and Tuberculosis.” He provided a comprehensive overview of the complex, challenging, and multidisciplinary journey of modern drug discovery. He beautifully explained how medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, computational biology, structural biology, pharmacology, and translational research are integrated to develop new therapeutic agents.
In the Neuroscience part of his talk, Dr. Kumar discussed his current research on neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. He presented the discovery of small-molecule inhibitors of the KCNQ1/Kv7.1 potassium channel using virtual screening, followed by electrophysiological validation and testing in KCNQ1-knockout neural stem cells. He also highlighted his work on first-in-class CSAD (cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase) modulators to explore taurine-associated pathways in the central nervous system, which may open new directions for studying neuropsychiatric conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
In the tuberculosis section, Dr. Kumar elaborated on his significant contributions to anti-TB drug discovery. He presented the development of 1,3-diarylpyrazolyl-acylsulfonamides as potent first-in-class inhibitors targeting the HadAB/BC complex in the FAS-II pathway of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He discussed the structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, medicinal chemistry optimization strategies (including pKa modulation, LogD, TPSA modification, and scaffold hopping), mechanistic insights, and challenges related to pharmacokinetics and in vivo clearance. He also shared the project status, including hit-to-lead optimization, candidate profiling, and ongoing efforts toward developing a novel anti-TB agent.
Throughout the lecture, Dr. Kumar emphasized that mechanism-guided and multidisciplinary approaches are essential for successful drug discovery. He illustrated how collaboration between different scientific disciplines and institutions plays a vital role in addressing complex diseases like drug-resistant tuberculosis and neuropsychiatric disorders.
The lecture was followed by a highly interactive question & answer session. Students and faculty members actively participated and asked insightful questions regarding career opportunities in medicinal chemistry abroad, challenges in TB drug discovery, and future scope in neuroscience research.
As a token of respect and gratitude, a gift was presented to Dr. Sumit Kumar by Prof. Preeti Kothiyal, Dean, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, symbolizing spirituality, growth, and the flourishing of knowledge.
The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Bhanwar. The organizing team expressed sincere gratitude to Dr. Sumit Kumar for delivering such a scientifically rich and inspiring lecture. A memento was presented to him as a token of appreciation for his valuable contribution. Special thanks were extended to the Honourable President and Honourable Vice-Chancellor of Swami Rama Himalayan University and the Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences for their constant support, guidance, and motivation in organizing this event.
The inaugural lecture of the International Talk Series was highly successful and proved to be immensely beneficial for students, research scholars, and faculty members. It provided deep insights into global trends in drug discovery and motivated the audience to adopt multidisciplinary thinking in their research pursuits.
