Alagarraju Muthukumar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

     

Dr. Kumar has a Masters and PhD in Biochemistry. He has completed clinical fellowships in clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He had worked in the clinical diagnostic industry for 4 years before moving back to academia. He is a board certified Clinical chemist, and is currently the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry at the Clements University Hospital, Zale Lipshy University hospital, Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Moncrief Cancer Institute in Fort Worth, and the UT Southwestern Clinics in Plano and Richardson.

His research interests include validating new diagnostic assays, repurposing big data for clinical research, and finding new applications for existing diagnostic markers. Current ongoing projects in his labs include the Abbott-funded study to validate high sensitivity cardiac Troponin I assay on Alinity auto-analyzer, biotin interference in diagnostic assays, and a collaboration with Johns Hopkins University on the evaluation of clinical implications of LDL under-estimation in Coronary Heart Disease patients.

Undergraduate

Unlisted - International Colle (1988), Biochemistry

Graduate School

Madras University - India (1990), Biochemistry

Graduate School

Madras University - India (1996), Biochemistry

• Repurposing of big data for clinical research
• Validation of new diagnostic assays

Featured Publications

Comparison of 4th-Generation HIV Antigen/Antibody Combination Assay With 3rd-Generation HIV Antibody Assays for the Occurrence of False-Positive and False-Negative Results.

Muthukumar A, Alatoom A, Burns S, Ashmore J, Kim A, Emerson B, Bannister E, Ansari MQ Lab Med 2015 46 2 84-9

Unusual case of Epstein-Barr virus DNA tissue positive: blood negative in a patient with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Levenson BM, Ali SA, Timmons CF, Mittal N, Muthukumar A, Payne DA Pediatr Transplant 2009 Feb 13 1 134-8

Bone marrow-based homeostatic proliferation of mature T cells in nonhuman primates: implications for AIDS pathogenesis.

Paiardini M, Cervasi B, Engram JC, Gordon SN, Klatt NR, Muthukumar A, Else J, Mittler RS, Staprans SI, Sodora DL, Silvestri G Blood 2009 Jan 113 3 612-21

Virally induced CD4+ T cell depletion is not sufficient to induce AIDS in a natural host.

Milush JM, Reeves JD, Gordon SN, Zhou D, Muthukumar A, Kosub DA, Chacko E, Giavedoni LD, Ibegbu CC, Cole KS, Miamidian JL, Paiardini M, Barry AP, Staprans SI, Silvestri G, Sodora DL J. Immunol. 2007 Sep 179 5 3047-56

Timely triggering of homeostatic mechanisms involved in the regulation of T-cell levels in SIVsm-infected sooty mangabeys.

Muthukumar A, Zhou D, Paiardini M, Barry AP, Cole KS, McClure HM, Staprans SI, Silvestri G, Sodora DL Blood 2005 Dec 106 12 3839-45

Loss of CD127 expression defines an expansion of effector CD8+ T cells in HIV-infected individuals.

Paiardini M, Cervasi B, Albrecht H, Muthukumar A, Dunham R, Gordon S, Radziewicz H, Piedimonte G, Magnani M, Montroni M, Kaech SM, Weintrob A, Altman JD, Sodora DL, Feinberg MB, Silvestri G J. Immunol. 2005 Mar 174 5 2900-9

Age associated alterations in costimulatory and adhesion molecule expression in lupus-prone mice are attenuated by food restriction with n-6 and n-3 fatty acids.

Muthukumar A, Sun D, Zaman K, Barnes JL, Haile D, Fernandes G J. Clin. Immunol. 2004 Sep 24 5 471-80

Elevated interleukin-7 levels not sufficient to maintain T-cell homeostasis during simian immunodeficiency virus-induced disease progression.

Muthukumar A, Wozniakowski A, Gauduin MC, Paiardini M, McClure HM, Johnson RP, Silvestri G, Sodora DL Blood 2004 Feb 103 3 973-9

Food restriction and fish oil suppress atherogenic risk factors in lupus-prone (NZB x NZW) F1 mice.

Muthukumar A, Zaman K, Lawrence R, Barnes JL, Fernandes G J. Clin. Immunol. 2003 Jan 23 1 23-33

Inhibitory effects of voluntary wheel exercise on apoptosis in splenic lymphocyte subsets of C57BL/6 mice.

Avula CP, Muthukumar AR, Zaman K, McCarter R, Fernandes G J. Appl. Physiol. 2001 Dec 91 6 2546-52

• Best Poster Finalist
  Systematic Analysis of Biotin Interference in Roche Chemistry Assays. ASCP 2017 Annual Meeeting, Chicago, IL. September 6-8, 2017
• Best Poster Finalist
  Are all creatinine results suspect during Dopamine and Debutamine infusions? ASCP 2017 Annual Meeeting, Chicago, IL. September 6-8, 2017
• Distinguished Abstract award
  Susceptability of High Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin I and Gen 5 cTnT assays to Biotin interference. 70th AACC Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL. July 29 - August 2, 2018

• American Society for Clinical Pathology (2015)
• American Association of Clinical Chemistry (2005)