Justin Kumar

The 2026 Visual System Development GRC and GRS are fast approaching. Jeremy Kay, Kristen Kwan, Robert Johnston, and I have built an exciting program that we hope you will enjoy. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting this summer in beautiful Maine. Register and RT!

My friend Soni Lacefield @lacefieldlab.bsky.social is receiving the Ira Herskowitz Award at the Yeast Genetics Meeting this summer for her outstanding contributions to the field of yeast genetics. Be sure to be there and hear her give an awesome lecture!

I am very excited to share that Brittany Zaruszak is the newest PhD graduate student to join my research group. Brittany is studying how transcription factors coordinate with Polycomb Group epigenetic repressors to specify the fate of the Drosophila eye.

Starting 2026 by writing a new research paper on patterning of the Drosophila eye. And yes, I know that I have a great office...

Excited to announce that the newest paper from my lab on the Drosophila visual system is out today! Modulating the levels and activity of the retinal determination network is sufficient to induce the specification of distinct tissue fates in Drosophila journals.biologists.com/dev/article-ab…

See my Perspective article in Science that accompanies an exciting new paper from Claude Desplan's lab. I highlight their discovery that waves of calcium are required to finalize the structure of the Drosophila retina. The retina’s rhythm | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Patience is a virtue! I have been a season ticket holder at my home institution, Indiana University, for 23 years. I have seen a lot of bad football games. My perseverance through the pain and suffering is finally paying off. We are ranked #3 in the country. Upwards and onwards!

Very proud of former Kumar lab PhD student, Alison Ordway, for receiving a K99 award from the National Eye Institute on her work describing photoreceptor patterning in Drosophila and mosquito compound eyes. Keep your eyes out for Alison when she goes out on the job market.

The lab kicked off the start of the fall semester at Indiana University by having lunch at Lennie's Brewpub.

@FerdinandTutor1 Thank you!

@FlyEyeLab This is amazing 🎊

As my laboratory begins its 24th year at Indiana University I am grateful to all of the past and present PhD students, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows that have joined me in my quest to discover how the compound eye of Drosophila develops.

@DrosophilaDaddy Thank you so much!

Beautiful work for those interested in Polycomb group proteins!

My lab's newest research paper on the Drosophila eye is published in Development today. Thanks to the editorial staff for writing a research highlight and interviewing us about our work. journals.biologists.com/dev/article-ab…

To all of my university faculty friends, as tenure and promotion season is just around the corner I thought I would share a little academic humor with you. Enjoy! youtube.com/watch?v=NNihym…

Happy to have had high school students Robyn Pate and Joy Sweeny (front row) spend the week with us learning about my lab and Drosophila eye development. Thanks to graduate students Ren Wilson and Mie Kusupholnand for serving as their research mentors.

Happy 4th of July from the Kumar lab!

A portion of my lab took a break from their experiments and joined me at our local Strawberry Shortcake Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.

Very late in posting...many thanks to my friend and host Markus Friedrich for an awesome visit to the Departments of Biological Sciences and Ophthalmology at Wayne State University. Great catching up with an old friend, talking science, and presenting our newest research!

Super excited that my superstar friend Soni Lacefield @LacefieldLab is a AAAS fellow! She is creative and her research is amazing so check it out. Soni Lacefield Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science geiselmed.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/soni… via @GeiselMed

Hope your lab had a great Valentine's Day!