Dr. Deepak Kumar Vijaya Kumar’s research is focused on characterization of Aβ protein of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as an antimicrobial peptide (AMP). After receiving his Ph.D. from Indiana State University he joined Massachusetts General Hospital as a post-doctoral research fellow in the department of mucosal immunology. Dr. Kumar is currently an instructor at MGH/Harvard in Dr. Robert D. Moir’s laboratory in the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at MGH. His expertise comprises a combination of academic and industrial skill sets including microbiology, neuroscience, infection, and immunity that he has aptly applied to his current research. His other projects include characterization of the human amylin peptide (another amyloid peptide), investigation of the in vitro and in vivo endotoxin-neutralization properties of Aβ, and screening of peptide-antibiotic conjugate molecules for their blood-brain barrier crossing ability. Dr. Kumar’s paper published in Science Translational Medicine in 2016 was considered by many experts in the field a breakthrough and has impressed upon the field of AD the role of infection in early AD pathology. He has been working on the gut-brain link in AD progression in relation to the gut microbiome and their secondary metabolites and how they might impact the early AD pathology.