Kumar Sinniah


Kumar Sinniah

Education

  • B.Sc. University of Colombo, Sri-Lanka Chemistry (First-class honors), 1984

  • Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, Physical Chemistry, 1991

Thesis: Laser induced thermal desorption of molecules from surfaces
Thesis Advisor: Professor Kenneth C. Janda and Professor John T. Yates, Jr.

Professional experience

  • Professor of Chemistry, Calvin University (College) - 1995–present
  • Visiting Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - 2008–2009
  • Visiting Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK - 2001–2002 
  • Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland - Summer 1998 
  • Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland and NIST - Summer 1996
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Maryland at College Park, 1992–1995

Academic interests

The focus of my research group is on single molecule analysis of biomolecular interactions by atomic force microscopy methods. Single molecule analysis provides a unique insight into biological processes that cannot be obtained by conventional methods that provides average measurements from an ensemble of molecules. In our research group, we use single molecule force spectroscopy to study the biophysical interactions between enzymes and inhibitors, and in DNA molecules.

Publications

Undergraduate student names appear in bold.   

Molly Macinnes, Benjamin Cousineau, Sarah Youngs, Kumar Sinniah, Joseph Reczek, and Stephen Maldonado, "Discovery of Unusually Stable Reduced Viologen via Synergistic Folding and Encapsulation", Journal of the Electrochemical Society 2019, 166, H825.

Hannah Peterson, Elizabeth Peterson, Rachael Bouwman, Kumar Sinniah, Bruce C. Steffes, and Jason Fader, “Spectroscopic Analysis of Metal Contents in Mosquito Nets used in Hernia Repair Surgery”, East and Central Africa Journal of Surgery 2019 Apr 24(1), 9-18.

Elizabeth Peterson, Christine Joseph, Hannah Peterson, Rachael Bouwman, Shengzhuang Tang, Jayme Cannon, Kumar Sinniah, and Seok Ki Choi, “Measuring the Adhesion Forces for the Multivalent Binding of Vancomycin-Conjugated Dendrimer to Bacterial Cell-Wall Peptide”, Langmuir 2018, 34, 7135-7146.

Fei Wang, Xinhe Wang, Christine D. Orru, Bradley R. Groveman, Krystyna Surewicz, Romany Abshkharon, Morikazu Imamura, Takashi Yokoyama, Yong-Sun Kim, Kayla J. Vander Stel, Kumar Sinniah, Suzette A. Priola, Witold K. Srewicz, Byron Caughey, Jiyan Ma, “Self-Propagating, Protease-Resistant, Recombinant Prion Protein Conformers with or without in vivo Pathogenicity”, PLOS Pathogens 2017, 13(7): e1006491.

Nicole L. Michmerhuizen, Lydia J. Dejonge, Margaret Van Winkle, Amanda B. Witte, Kylin Hamann, Dejian Zhou, and Kumar Sinniah, “A Thermodynamic Study of the Binding Interactions between Insulin and Non-Consensus Insulin-Linked Polymorphic Region Repeat Sequences”, Biophysical Chemistry (under revision).

Pamela T. Wong, Kumar Sinniah, and Seok Ki Choi, “Riboflavin-conjugated multivalent dendrimer platform for cancer-targeted drug and gene delivery”, (book chapter) in “Bioactivity of Engineered Nanoparticles” 2017, (Springer). (K Sinniah (Corresponding Author)).

Romany Abskharon, Fei Wang, Kayla J. Vander Stel, Kumar Sinniah, Jiyan Ma, “The role of the unusual threonine string in the conversion of prior protein to infectious prions, Science Reports 2016, 6. 38877.

Pascale R. Leroueil, Stassi DiMaggio, Abigail N. Leistra, Craig D. Blanchette,  Christine Orme, Kumar Sinniah, Bradford G. Orr, and Mark Banaszak Holl, “Characterization of Folic acid and Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer Interactions with Folate Binding Protein: A Force Pulling Study”, J. Phys. Chem. B. 2015, 119, 11506-11512.

Abigail N. Leistra, Jong Hyun Han, Shengzhuang Tang, Bradford G. Orr, Mark M. Banaszak Holl, Seok Ki Choi, and Kumar Sinniah, “Force Spectroscopy of Multivalent Binding of Riboflavin-Conjugated Dendrimers to Riboflavin Binding Protein, J. Phys. Chem. B. 2015, 119, 5785-5792.

Mallory A. van Dongen, Rahul Rattan, Justin Silpe, Casey Dougherty, Nicole L. Michmerhuizen, Margaret Van Winkle, Baohua Huang, Seok Ki Choi, Kumar Sinniah, Bradford G. Orr, Mark M. Banaszak Holl, “Poly(amidoamine) dendrimer-Methotrexate Conjugates: The Mechanism of Interaction with Folate Binding Protein, Molecular Pharmaceutics 2014, 11, 4049-4058.

Amanda Witte, Abigail Leistra, Pamela Wong, Sophia Bharathi, Kevin Refior, Phillip Smith, Ola Kaso, Kumar Sinniah, and Seok Ki Choi, “Atomic Force Microscopy Probing of Receptor–Nanoparticle Interactions for Riboflavin Receptor Targeted Gold–Dendrimer Nanocomposites”, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2014, 118(11) 2872–2882.

Christine Timmer, Nicole Michmerhuizen, Amanda Witte, Margaret Van Winkle, Dejian Zhou, and Kumar Sinniah, “An Isothermal Titration and Differential Scanning Calorimetry Study of the G‑ Quadruplex DNA− Insulin Interaction”, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2014, 118, 1784-1790.

Carsten Hamann, Waranya Boonchai, Liping Wen, Emi Nishijima, Chia-Yu Chu, Kylin Hamann, Curtis Hamann, Kumar Sinniah, and Dathan Hamann, “Spectrometric Analysis of Mercury Content in 557 Skin Lightening Products: Is Mercury Toxicity a Hidden Global Health Hazard?”, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2014, 70, 281-287.  

Anna Plantinga, Amanda Witte, Ming-Hsin Li, Andrew Harmon,* Seok Ki Choi, Mark M. Banaszak Holl, Brad G.Orr, James R. Baker, Jr., and Kumar Sinniah, "Bioanalytical Screening of Riboflavin Antagonists for Targeted Drug Delivery - A Kinetic and Thermodynamic Study". ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2, 363-367. 2011.

Anna Plantinga, Amanda Witte, Seok-Ki Choi, and Kumar Sinniah, "Characterizing Riboflavin Antagonists for Targeted Drug Delivery", Biophys. J. 100, S1: 553a. 2011.

Christine Timmer and Kumar Sinniah, "Investigating the Binding of Insulin to G-Quadruplex DNA by Differential Scanning Calorimetry", Biophys. J. 100, S1: 231a. 2011.

Kumar Sinniah, Susanna Lynch, Heather Baker, Sarah Byker, Dejian Zhou, "A Single Molecule Study of Guanine Quadruplex DNA" Biophys. J. 98, S1: 592a. 2010.

Susanna Lynch, Rachel Battershell, Jordan Scott, Dejian Zhou, and Kumar Sinniah, "A Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy Study of the Binding Interaction Between Insulin and G-Quadruplex DNA" Biophys. J. 98, S1: 592a. 2010. 

L. Devon Triplett, Daniel Q. McNerny, J. Gabriel Grodzicki, Kumar Sinniah, Mark M. Banaszak Holl, Bradford G. Orr, "Investigating the Interaction Between Folic Acid and Folate Binding Protein at the Single Molecule Level", Biophys. J. 98, S1: 596a. 2010.

Susanna Lynch, Heather Baker, Sarah Byker, Dejian Zhou, and Kumar Sinniah, "Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy on G-Quadruplex DNA," Chem. Euro. J. 15, 8113-8116. 2009.

Susanna Lynch, Heather Baker, Sarah Byker, Dejian Zhou, and Kumar Sinniah, "Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy of Guanine Quadruplex DNA," Biophys. J. 96, 2009, 36a.

Kumar Sinniah, Laura Porter-Peden, Sarah Byker, Ronald Blankespoor, Dejian Zhou, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "A Single Molecule Study of Enzyme-Inhibitor Interactions," Biophys. J. 96, 643a. 2009.

Laura Porter-Peden, Sarah Kamper, Mark Vander Wal, Ronald Blankespoor, and Kumar Sinniah, "Estimating Kinetic and Thermodynamic Parameters From Single Molecule Enzyme Inhibitor Interactions", Langmuir 24, 11556-11561. 2008.

Jennifer Nichols, Joey Buthker, and Kumar Sinniah, "The Effect of Divalent Cations (Mg2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+) on the Hybridization Efficiency Of DNA,"  Biophys. J. 94, 1712. 2008.

Sarah Kamper, Laura Porter-Peden, Ronald Blankespoor, Mark Vander Wal, and Kumar Sinniah, "The Effect of Tether Length in Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy," Biophys. J. 94, 1714. 2008.

Laura Porter-Peden, Sarah Kamper, Kumar Sinniah, Ronald Blankespoor, Dejian Zhou, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Enzyme-Inhibitor Interactions," Biophys. J. 94, 1720. 2008. 

Sarah Kamper, Laura Porter-Peden, Ronald Blankespoor, Kumar Sinniah, Dejian Zhou, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "Investigating the specific interactions between carbonic anhydrase and a sulfonamide inhibitor by single molecule force spectroscopy", Langmuir 23, 12561-12565. 2007.

Xiuzhu Wang, Dejian Zhou, Kumar Sinniah, Caroline Clarke, Louis Birch, H. Li, Trevor Rayment, Chris Abell, "Electrostatic orientation of enzymes on surfaces for ligand screening probed by force spectroscopy", Langmuir 22, 887-892. 2006.

Mark Vander Wal, Sarah Kamper, Jennifer Headley, and Kumar Sinniah, "Effect of Contact Force and Salt Concentration on the Unbinding of a DNA Duplex by Force Spectroscopy", Langmuir 22, 882-886. 2006.

Dejian Zhou, Kumar Sinniah, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "Label-Free Detection of DNA Hybridization at the Nanoscale: An AFM Based Highly Sensitive and Selective Method", Angewandte Chemie International Edition 42, 4934-4937. 2003.

Kimberly Aumann, Karen C. J. Muyskens, and Kumar Sinniah, "Visualizing Atoms, Molecules, and Surfaces by Scanning Probe Microscopy", J. Chem. Educ. 80, 187. 2003. 

Dejian Zhou, Kumar Sinniah, Chris Abell and Trevor Rayment, "The Use of Atomic Force Microscopy for Making Addresses in DNA Coatings", Langmuir 18, 8278. 2002.

Jamie Paauw, John Ubels, and Kumar Sinniah, "Investigating Live Fixed Chang Conjunctival and Corneal Fibroblast Cells by Atomic Force Microscopy", Current Eye Research 25, 61. 2002. 

Mark Schotanus, Kimberly Aumann, and Kumar Sinniah, "Using Force Spectroscopy to Investigate the Binding of Complementary DNA in the Presence of Intercalating Agents", Langmuir 18, 5333-5336. 2002. 

Kumar Sinniah and Kenneth Piers, "Ion Chromatography: Analysis of Ions in Pond Waters", J. Chem. Educ. 78, 358. 2001.

Steve Robey and Kumar Sinniah, "Initial Etching of GaAs (001) During Hydrogen Plasma Etching" Journal of Applied Physics 88, 2994. 2000.

Presentations (since 2001)

The list below reflects the presentations that Prof. Sinniah has either directly or indirectly participated in since the year 2001. Student presenters are listed in bold font.

Laura Porter-Peden, Sarah Kamper, Kumar Sinniah, Ronald Blankespoor, Dejian Zhou, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "Kinetics and thermodynamics of enzyme-inhibitor interactions", Joint Meeting of the Biophysical Society 52 nd Annual Meeting & 16th International Biophysics Congress, Long Beach, CA, February 2-6, 2008. (Laura Porter-Peden was a Biophysical Society Travel Award Winner)

Sarah Kamper, Laura Porter-Peden, Ronald Blankespoor, Stephanie Hoogendorn, Mark Vander Wal, and Kumar Sinniah, "The effect of tether length in single molecule force spectroscopy", Joint Meeting of the Biophysical Society 52 nd Annual Meeting & 16th International Biophysics Congress, Long Beach, CA, February 2-6, 2008. (Sarah Kamper was a Biophysical Society Travel Award Winner)

Jennifer Nichols, Joseph Buthker, and Kumar Sinniah, "The effect of divalent cations (Mg2+ , Zn2+ , Mn2+ , and Ca2+ ) on the hybridization efficiency of DNA", Joint Meeting of the Biophysical Society 52 nd Annual Meeting & 16th International Biophysics Congress, Long Beach, CA, February 2-6, 2008.

Sarah Kamper, Laura Porter-Peden, Kumar Sinniah, Ronald Blankespoor, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "A single molecule study of enzyme-inhibitor interactions", 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, March 25-29, 2007.

Joseph Buthker, Jennifer Nichols, and Kumar Sinniah, "Determining the effects of divalent cations on DNA using AFM", 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, March 25-29, 2007.

Mark Vander Wal, Sarah G. Kamper, Jennifer Headley, and Kumar Sinniah, "Factors affecting the study of biomolecular interactions", 37th Great Lakes Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Milwaukee, WI, May 31-June 2, 2006.

Sarah G. Kamper, Jennifer Headley, Mark Vander Wal, and Kumar Sinniah, "Is force spectroscopy an effective method for discriminating the binding of drugs to DNA?", 37th Great Lakes Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Milwaukee, WI, May 31-June 2, 2006.

Kumar Sinniah, Sarah Kamper, Laura Porter-Peden, Xiuzhu Wang, Dejian Zhou, Chris Abell, and Trevor Rayment, "Investigating enzyme inhibitor interactions by force spectroscopy", CUR 2006 National Conference, DePauw University, Indiana, June 24-27, 2006.

Sabina Thyle, Mark Schotanus, Kimberly Aumann, and Kumar Sinniah, "Investigation of drug-DNA interactions by Force Spectroscopy", The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters 2004 Meeting, March 5, 2004.

Sabina Thyle, Mark Vander Wal, Tamar Hunse, Mark Schotanus, Kimberly Aumann, and Kumar Sinniah, "Investigating drug-DNA interactions by force spectroscopy", Council on Undergraduate Research, 10 th National Conference, June 23-26, 2004.

Eric Arnoys, Carissa Hockema, and Kumar Sinniah, "Visualization of F-Actin by Scanning Probe Microscopy", 33 rd Great Lakes ACS Central Regional Meeting, June 11-13, 2001.

Kumar Sinniah, Joel Visser, and Karen Gilliland, "Analysis of volatile organics from a painting studio", 33 rd Great Lakes ACS Central Regional Meeting, June 11-13, 2001.

Julia Heetderks, Kumar Sinniah, Melvin Schindler, and Marcos Dantus, "Investigations of Streptavidin-Biotin binding by Atomic Force Microscopy", 33rd Great Lakes ACS Central Regional Meeting, June 11-13, 2001.

Kumar Sinniah, Jamie Paauw, and John Ubels, "Use of Atomic Force Microscopy to observe cells in culture", 33rd Great Lakes ACS Central Regional Meeting, June 11-13, 2001.

Kimberly Aumann, Kumar Sinniah, and Elizabeth Howell, "DNA binding of replication factor C and proliferating cell nuclear antigen as imaged using atomic force microscopy", 33rd Great Lakes ACS Central Regional Meeting, June 11-13, 2001.

Past Student Researchers

The list below reflects the student researchers that Prof. Sinniah has worked with and mentored in some capacity since year 1997; this list also reflects the wide array of academic interests that the students held while working underneath Prof. Sinniah’s leadership.

Rachel Battershell (2009–2010)
Chemistry and French Major

Anna Plantinga (2009–2010)
Biology and Math Major

Stephenie Graf (2010)
Chemistry Major

Christie Timmer (2010)
Biology Major

Amanda Witte (2010)
Chemistry & Biochemistry Major

Matt Salie (2010 Spring)
Biochemistry Major

Susanna Lynch (2008–2009)
NIH IRTA Fellowship

Jordan Scott (2009)
PhD Student in Biochemistry
Notre Dame University

Heather Baker (2008)
Senior Biochemistry
Calvin College

Sarah (Kamper) Byker (2006–2008)
PhD Student in Chemistry
Northwestern University

Laura Bolton (2007–2008)
PhD Student in Chemistry
University of Washington-Seattle

Mark Vander Wal (2005–2007)
PhD Student in Chemistry
Princeton University

Jennifer Nichols (2005–2007)
PhD Student in Toxicology
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Joseph Buthker (2006–2007)
PhD Student in Chemistry
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Dena Vander Tuig (2006–2007)
MD/MPH Program
Emory University, Atlanta

Gladys Kamanga-Sollo (2007)
MD Program
George Washington University, DC

Emily Tubergen (2007)
Teach for America

Rachel Veltman (2006)

Tamar Hunse (2004–2006)
MD Program
Saba University, Netherlands-Antilles

Helen Etya'ale (2006)
MPH - 2008 Global Epidemiology
Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Ryan Colburn (2005–2006)
DVM Program - Small and Exotic Animal Medicine
Michigan State University

Sabina Thyle (2004)
MD Program
University of Southern California

Lisa (Green) Rasbach (2003)
MSN, Pediatric Nurse, South Carolina

Lisa Boyle (2002)
Acupuncturist
Los Angeles, CA

Mark Schotanus (2001–2002)
Bio Lab Technician
Calvin College

Kimberly Arnold (2000–2001)
MS, Chemistry Instructor
Indiana University, Bloomington

Julia Heetderks, PhD (2000–2001)

Joel Visser (1998–2001)
JD/MS in Environmental Policy and Planning
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Jamie Paauw (2000-2001)
Physician, Ophthalmology
Texas A&M University

Carissa Hockema Cheng (1999–2000)
Registered Dietician

Karen Gilliland (1999)

Stacy (Vander Kooi) Bajema (1999)
Technology Consultant
Innovative Technology Solutions, MN

Sam Glass, PhD (1997)

Tom Vos, PhD (1997)
Invista, Orange, TX

Eric Achtyes, MD (1997)
Psychiatry
Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Service
Grand Rapids, MI

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