Dr. Ashok Kumar is currently associated with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as Endowed Chair Professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering. He has received his Ph.D in Biotechnology in 1994 jointly from Institute of genomics and integrative biology, Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India His current research interests focus in the areas of stem cell research, regenerative medicine, biomaterials, tissue engineering, bioprocess engineering, nanobiotechnology, drug delivery and environmental biotechnology. He has published around 200 peer reviewed research papers in International Journals, edited five books and has several patents in his area of research. Prof. Kumar has been recognized with many awards and honours like, TATA Innovation fellowship, Samsung research award and other national and international fellowships. To mention further, Prof. Kumar has served as associate editor of Nanoscale Research Letters and is on the editorial board of several other Biological and Biotechnological Journals. He is involved in expert committees for Biomaterials and Tissue engineering research and also serves as a committee member of Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
Some of his major research achievements in the regenerative medicine have been designing of neo-cartilage and bioartificial liver support bioreactor using cryogel matrices which are at the pre-clinical stages. He has developed functional bone substitutes which are in clinical trials for pediatric cranioplasty. In the area of bioseparations and bioprocessing, he has developed the technologies and processes like metal affinity precipitation, monolithic chromatographic approaches for macromolecules and cell separations and disposable polymeric bioreactors for therapeutic protein production and has transferred technologies to industries. In the area of environmental biotechnology, his team has suitably designed membrane filtration devices for air and water purification and established integrated approach for community water filtration for drinking water. His lab is actively involved in carrying out industry collaboration biomedical research through national programmes like IMPRINT and UAY. To speak about his contribution in national and international research collaborations, Dr. Kumar has been actively involved in research collaborations within IITK and with other IITs, national labs and universities in the country. He carries out active collaborations with Sweden and Finland in orthopedic clinical and biomedical research through bilateral programmes besides being involved in research co-operations with US, UK, Germany, Korea, Japan and Slovania.