page_title: Kumaravel Somasundaram
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Kumaravel Somasundaram / Biography
caption_attribution_description: മലയാളം: മധുരൈ കാമരാജ് സർവകലാശാലയുടെ മുൻവശം
context_page_description: Kumaravel Somasundaram is an Indian cancer biologist and a professor at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology of the Indian Institute of Science. Known for his studies on the therapeutics of Glioblastoma, Somasunderam is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2006.
context_section_description: Kumaravel Somasundaram, born on 8 October 1962 in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, graduated in veterinary medicine from the Madras Veterinary College and did his post-graduate studies at the Madurai Kamaraj University to earn an MSc in biotechnology. He continued at the university for his doctoral studies under the guidance of Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam and after securing a PhD, he moved to the US for his post-doctoral work which he did, first under Bayar Thimmapaya at the Northwestern University Medical School during 1993–95 and later, at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the University of Pennsylvania, working on DNA tumor viruses and tumor suppressor genes, supervised by Wafik El-Deiry from 1995 to 1999. On his return to India, he joined the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as a member of faculty at the division of biological sciences, subsequently became an associate professor at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology and continues his association with IISc, serving as a professor. He also heads the research group, popularly known as Prof. Kumar Somasundaram's Lab.
  Somasundaram resides in IISc housing colony in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
caption: Madurai Kamaraj University-front view
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