About

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Sumit Kumar Hira, PhD, FAScT

Sumit Kumar Hira, is an immunologist and cancer biologist whose research focuses on understanding how the immune system interacts with the tumor microenvironment and how these interactions can be therapeutically manipulated to overcome cancer immune resistance. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at The University of Burdwan, where he leads the Cellular Immunology Laboratory (CIL). His academic career at the University of Burdwan began in 2015.

Dr. Hira received his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Zoology in 2006, M.Sc. in Zoology with specialization in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2008, and Ph.D. in Immunology from Banaras Hindu University. He qualified the CSIR-NET Junior Research Fellowship in Life Sciences in 2007 and subsequently developed his research career at the interface of cellular immunology, cancer biology, molecular biology and nanomedicine.

Lab History

The Cellular Immunology Laboratory (CIL), led by Dr. Sumit Kumar Hira, was established with a vision to understand how tumors evade immune surveillance and how these mechanisms can be therapeutically reversed. Our research journey began with dendritic-cell biology and cancer immunotherapy, and evolved toward understanding the molecular basis of tumor-associated immune suppression.

Today, CIL focuses on colorectal cancer, tumor immunometabolism, CD8⁺ T-cell exhaustion, tumor endothelial cells, TGF-β signaling, regulatory T cells and metabolic checkpoints. By integrating human tumor specimens, experimental models, flow cytometry, molecular biology and single-cell approaches, we aim to uncover mechanisms of immune resistance and develop rational strategies for next-generation cancer immunotherapy.