Manoj Kumar, PhD

Research Interests

The overarching goal of my research program is to advance therapeutic strategies for hearing disorders, including difficulty hearing in noisy environments, hyperacusis, tinnitus, and hearing deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We seek to understand how auditory dysfunction arises from alterations in cortical neural circuits and to leverage this knowledge to develop interventions that restore hearing function. Our research is organized around three primary objectives: (1) develop and characterize animal models that recapitulate the auditory perceptual deficits observed in human disorders; (2) identify the synaptic, cellular, and circuit mechanisms in the auditory cortex that underlie these deficits; and (3) evaluate targeted therapeutic strategies that restore hearing function or alleviate auditory impairments.

Education

Postdoctoral Training: Auditory Neuroscience: University of Pittsburgh

Graduate: PhD, Neuroscience and Pharmacology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

Undergraduate: BS, Pharmacy: Delhi University, Delhi, India (2004-2009)

Honors

• Emerging Research Grant from Hearing Health Foundation, 2025 and 2026
  KCNQ2/3 potassium channel activator mitigates noise-trauma-induced hypersensitivity to sounds in mice
• Emerging Research Grant from Hearing Health Foundation, 2022 and 2023
  Signaling Mechanisms of Auditory Cortex Plasticity After Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
• Albert C. Muse Endowed Research Award 2021

Publications

See all of Dr. Kumar’s publications and collaborations here »

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Select recent publications

1. Hao Zhang, Manoj Kumar, Raquel Correia, Shengjie Yang, Wenyuan Huang, Carina Soares-Cunha, Patrick Andrew Cody, Yiyu Zhang, Xiaodong Tian, Shengyu Zhao, Mikhail Drobizhev, Ana João Rodrigues, Thanos Tzounopoulos, Hui-wang Ai. hpGRISZ: a high-performance fluorescent biosensor for in vivo imaging of synaptic zinc dynamics. ACS Sensors 2026. 5c04244
2. Manoj Kumar*, Gregory Handy, Stylianos Kouvaros, Lovisa Ljungqvist Brinson, Brandon Bizup, Brent Doiron, Thanos Tzounopoulos*. Cell-type-specific plasticity of inhibitory interneurons in the rehabilitation of auditory cortex after peripheral damage. Nature Communications 2023, 14, 4170. (*Corresponding Authors)
3. Tianchen Wu*, Manoj Kumar*, Shengyu Zhao, Mikhail Drobizhev, Xiaodong Tian, Thanos Tzounopoulos, Hui-wang Ai. A Genetically Encoded Far-Red Fluorescent Indicator for Imaging Synaptically-Released Zn²⁺. Science Advances 2023, 9, eadd2058.
4. Stylianos Kouvaros, Brandon Bizup, Oscar Solis, Manoj Kumar, Emilya Ventriglia, Fallon P. Curry, Michael Michaelides, Thanos Tzounopoulos. A CRE/DRE dual recombinase transgenic mouse reveals synaptic zinc–mediated thalamocortical neuromodulation. Science Advances 2023, 9, eadf3525.
5. Patrick Cody, Manoj Kumar, and Thanos Tzounopoulos. Cortical zinc signaling is necessary for changes in pupil diameter that are evoked by background sounds with different contrast in mice. Journal of Neuroscience 2024.
6. Stylianos Kouvaros, Manoj Kumar, and Thanos Tzounopoulos. Synaptic Zinc Enhances Inhibition Mediated by Somatostatin, but not Parvalbumin, Cells in Mouse Auditory Cortex. Cerebral Cortex 2020, Volume 30, Issue 7, July 2020, Pages 3895–3909.
7. Manoj Kumar, Shanshan Xiong, Thanos Tzounopoulos, and Charles T. Anderson. Fine Control of Sound Frequency Tuning and Frequency Discrimination Acuity by Synaptic Zinc Signaling in Mouse Auditory Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 2019, 39 (5) 854-865.
8. Charles T Anderson*, Manoj Kumar*, Shanshan Xiong, and Thanos Tzounopoulos. Cell-specific gain modulation by synaptically released zinc in cortical circuits of audition. eLife 2017; 6: e29893.
9. Manoj Kumar, Nicholas Reed, Ruiting Liu, Elias Aizenman, Peter Wipf, Thanos Tzounopoulos. Synthesis and Evaluation of Potent KCNQ2/3-specific Channel Activators. Molecular Pharmacology 2016. Mol Pharmacol 89:667–677.
10. Manoj Kumar, Manish Kumar, John M Freund, Glenn H Dillon. A Single Amino Acid Residue at Transmembrane Domain 4 of the α Subunit Influences Carisoprodol Direct Gating Efficacy at GABAA Receptors. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2017, 362 (3) 395-404.
11. Manoj Kumar, Lorie A González, Glenn H Dillon. Assessment of subunit-dependent direct gating and allosteric modulatory effects of carisoprodol at GABA receptors. Neuropharmacology 2015; 97:414-425.
12. Manoj Kumar, Glenn H Dillon. Carisoprodol: Update on Abuse Potential and Mechanism of Action. Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology 2015. Mol Cell Pharmacol 2015; 7(1):1-10.
13. Manoj Kumar. Assessment of molecular action of direct gating and allosteric modulatory effects of carisoprodol (Soma®) on GABA A receptors. West Virginia University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3701995.