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Ankur Singh

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Ankur Singh
Born
Varanasi, India
NationalityAmerican
EmployerGeorgia Institute of Technology Cornell University
Known forImmune Organoids, Synthetic Vaccines, Lymphoma Organoids
TitleCarl Ring Family Professor
Academic background
Alma materGeorgia Institute of Technology, The University of Texas at Austin, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Ankur Singh (Hindi: अंकुर सिंह) is an Indian-American biomedical engineer and scientist whose research focuses on engineering immune system. He is a Carl Ring Family Endowed Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.[1][2] He serves as the Director of the Center for Immunoengineering at Georgia Tech.[3]

Education and work

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Singh completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 2010,[4] working with leading biomedical scientist, Krishnendu Roy, now Dean of Engineering at Vanderbilt University.[5] His doctoral thesis focused on bioengineered immunotherapy where he led the development of an injectable, in situ crosslinkable hydrogel - microparticle vaccine formulation to attract dendritic cells to the site of injection and bias T cell immune response against infection and lymphoma cancer.[6][7] The combinatorial vaccine was among the early works to demonstrate the co-delivery of chemoattractants, DNA, and siRNA to the same immune cell.[7]

Singh immigrated to the United States in 2006 following a Masters of Technology in Biomedical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, and a Bachelors of Engineering in Biochemical Engineering from Kumaon University, India. His Master's thesis at IIT-Bombay focused on studying lipid nanoparticles for cancer treatment, working with Rinti Banerjee.[8]

Singh completed his Postdoctoral training with bioengineering pioneer Andrés J. García and was co-advised by stem cell expert Todd McDevitt at Georgia Institute of Technology (2010–2013). His postdoctoral research, reported in Nature Methods, developed a first microfluidics platform for adhesion strength–based, label-free isolation of human induced pluripotent stem cells.[9][10][11] This work was featured by the Director of National Institute of Health, Francis Collins, in his NIH Director's blog.[12] Singh then joined Cornell University as an Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2019, and was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in 2019.[13] In 2020,[14] he transitioned to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was an Associate Professor until 2023, after which he was promoted to professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, a position he currently holds. In 2024, Singh was appointed as the Carl Ring Family endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering.[15]

Singh is a pioneering researcher and inventor in the field of immune organoids, a discipline he has advanced and established as a significant area of scholarly research. His work has established a first synthetic immune organ to understand healthy and diseased immune cells and translate therapeutics.[16][17] His research focuses on developing biomaterials-engineered "living" immune tissues, such as organoids and on-chip models, to replicate the structural and functional features of lymph nodes. By applying engineering principles, he investigates the cellular and biophysical interactions between lymphoid tissues, immune cells, and tumors. His laboratory explores how immune cells make decisions at the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic levels to enhance protection against infections, cancer, and inflammation. Singh has published more than 75 journal articles, 15 issued/pending patents, and more than 95 Keynote and invited talks. Singh has published extensively in the area of immune engineering, biomaterials, hydrogels, nanotechnology, and lymphoma. His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Methods,[10] Nature Materials,[18][19][20] Nature Nanotechnology,[21][22] Nature Immunology,[23] Nature Communications,[24] Nature Reviews Materials,[25] and Nature Protocols.[26] His immune organoids were identified among the Top 100 Discoveries of 2015 by Discover Magazine,[27] and were featured in The Scientist magazine,[28] and Contagion news.[17]

In a "News & Views" article featured in Nature Nanotechnology, immunotherapy experts Luca Gattinoni and Dragana Slavkovic-Lukic compared the potential impact of Singh's nanowire technology on cancer treatment to Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon, suggesting that just as that moment opened new horizons in space exploration, nanowires could revolutionize cancer treatment by advancing naïve T cell-based immunotherapy.[21][29][30] His contributions to the development of organotypic models of lymphoma has further led to discovery that a cancerous lymphoid tumor microenvironment not only promotes lymphoma growth but also diminishes the effectiveness of molecular inhibitors.[18][31][32] His lymphoma tumor models have helped translate lab research findings to Phase I clinical trial of Tazemetostat in combination with Venetoclax in patients with relapsed/refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.[33][34] In addition, he also co-edited biomedical textbook entitled "Microscale Technologies for Cell Engineering", with Akhilesh K. Gaharwar.[35] In 2022, Dr. Singh was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows "for creative integration of biomaterials development and cell manupulations exvivo/in vivo to design synthetic materials for ex vivo immune tissues," an honor reserved for the top 2% of medical and biological engineers globally.[36][37]

He has received funding from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, Wellcome Leap HOPE,[38] US Department of Defense,[39] Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Curci Foundation.[40] In 2021, Singh was selected by Wellcome Leap HOPE, a global Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health,[41] to lead a team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, as part of the nonprofit's international $50 million Human Organs, Physiology, and Engineering (HOPE) program.[38] Singh is an Associate Editor of scientific journals Science Advances,[42] Biomaterials,[43] and Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering.[44] He serves on the Executive Advisory Board of Advanced NanoBiomed Research,[45] and served as an Associate Scientific Advisor for Science Translational Medicine for 2018-2019, where he wrote editor's choice articles.[46][47][48][49][50][51][52]

Singh is known for his commitment to fostering a collaborative learning environment and encouraging students to engage in interdisciplinary research. He teaches a variety of courses related to fundamentals of biomedical engineering to specialized courses in biomaterials, biofluid mechanics, tissue engineering, and immunoengineering. For his pedagogy, he has received Georgia Tech Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching Award (2023) and John Swanson '61 ME Teaching Excellence Award from Cornell Engineering (2017).[53][54] An advocate of work-life balance in academic career, in 2024 Singh shared with Nature how he is thriving in academia and what fuels his passion for it.[55]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "Ankur_Singh_me". www.me.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  2. ^ "Faculty Profile | Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering". bme.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  3. ^ "Center for Immunoengineering at Georgia Tech – Just another Sites @ Georgia Tech site". immunoengineering.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  4. ^ "Ankur Singh, Ph.D. 2010 - Department of Biomedical Engineering". bme.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  5. ^ "Vanderbilt names esteemed biomedical engineer Krishnendu Roy as next dean of School of Engineering". Vanderbilt University. April 17, 2023. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  6. ^ Singh, Ankur; Nie, Hui; Ghosn, Bilal; Qin, Hong; Kwak, Larry W.; Roy, Krishnendu (December 2008). "Efficient modulation of T-cell response by dual-mode, single-carrier delivery of cytokine-targeted siRNA and DNA vaccine to antigen-presenting cells". Molecular Therapy: The Journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy. 16 (12): 2011–2021. doi:10.1038/mt.2008.206. ISSN 1525-0024. PMID 18813280.
  7. ^ a b Singh, Ankur; Suri, Shalu; Roy, Krishnendu (October 2009). "In-situ crosslinking hydrogels for combinatorial delivery of chemokines and siRNA-DNA carrying microparticles to dendritic cells". Biomaterials. 30 (28): 5187–5300. doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.06.001. ISSN 0142-9612. PMC 2818033. PMID 19560815.
  8. ^ Joshi, Nitin; Shirsath, Nitesh; Singh, Ankur; Joshi, Kalpana S.; Banerjee, Rinti (2014-11-18). "Endogenous lung surfactant inspired pH responsive nanovesicle aerosols: pulmonary compatible and site-specific drug delivery in lung metastases". Scientific Reports. 4: 7085. doi:10.1038/srep07085. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4235800. PMID 25403950.
  9. ^ Abilez, Oscar J.; Wu, Joseph C. (June 2013). "Differential stickiness". Nature Materials. 12 (6): 474–476. doi:10.1038/nmat3664. ISSN 1476-4660.
  10. ^ a b Singh, Ankur; Suri, Shalu; Lee, Ted; Chilton, Jamie M; Cooke, Marissa T; Chen, Weiqiang; Fu, Jianping; Stice, Steven L; Lu, Hang; McDevitt, Todd C; García, Andrés J (May 2013). "Adhesion strength–based, label-free isolation of human pluripotent stem cells". Nature Methods. 10 (5): 438–444. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2437. ISSN 1548-7091. PMC 3641175. PMID 23563795.
  11. ^ US10106780B2, Singh, Ankur; Suri, Shalu & McDevitt, Todd Christopher et al., "Adhesive signature-based methods for the isolation of stem cells and cells derived therefrom", issued 2018-10-23 
  12. ^ Collins, Dr Francis (2013-05-16). "Exploiting Stem Cell Stickiness for Sorting". NIH Director's Blog. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  13. ^ "Ankur Singh | Cornell Engineering". www.engineering.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  14. ^ "Ankur Singh Joining the Coulter Department as Associate Professor". bme.gatech.edu. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  15. ^ "7 Woodruff School Faculty Members Awarded Professorships | George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering". www.me.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  16. ^ "First functional, synthetic immune organ with controllable antibodies". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  17. ^ a b "Engineers Tackle Growing Threat of Infectious Diseases". ContagionLive. 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  18. ^ a b Shah, Shivem B.; Carlson, Christopher R.; Lai, Kristine; Zhong, Zhe; Marsico, Grazia; Lee, Katherine M.; Félix Vélez, Nicole E.; Abeles, Elisabeth B.; Allam, Mayar; Hu, Thomas; Walter, Lauren D.; Martin, Karen E.; Gandhi, Khanjan; Butler, Scott D.; Puri, Rishi (April 2023). "Combinatorial treatment rescues tumour-microenvironment-mediated attenuation of MALT1 inhibitors in B-cell lymphomas". Nature Materials. 22 (4): 511–523. Bibcode:2023NatMa..22..511S. doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01495-3. ISSN 1476-4660. PMC 10069918. PMID 36928381.
  19. ^ Singh, Ankur (January 2020). "Materials modulate immunity and gut microbiome". Nature Materials. 19 (1): 3–4. Bibcode:2020NatMa..19....3S. doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0557-3. ISSN 1476-4660. PMID 31853034.
  20. ^ Lee, Ted T.; García, José R.; Paez, Julieta I.; Singh, Ankur; Phelps, Edward A.; Weis, Simone; Shafiq, Zahid; Shekaran, Asha; del Campo, Aránzazu; García, Andrés J. (March 2015). "Light-triggered in vivo activation of adhesive peptides regulates cell adhesion, inflammation and vascularization of biomaterials". Nature Materials. 14 (3): 352–360. Bibcode:2015NatMa..14..352L. doi:10.1038/nmat4157. ISSN 1476-4660. PMC 4336636. PMID 25502097.
  21. ^ a b Yee Mon, Kristel J.; Kim, Sungwoong; Dai, Zhonghao; West, Jessica D.; Zhu, Hongya; Jain, Ritika; Grimson, Andrew; Rudd, Brian D.; Singh, Ankur (August 2024). "Functionalized nanowires for miRNA-mediated therapeutic programming of naïve T cells". Nature Nanotechnology. 19 (8): 1190–1202. doi:10.1038/s41565-024-01649-7. ISSN 1748-3395. PMC 11330359. PMID 38684809.
  22. ^ Singh, Ankur (January 2021). "Eliciting B cell immunity against infectious diseases using nanovaccines". Nature Nanotechnology. 16 (1): 16–24. Bibcode:2021NatNa..16...16S. doi:10.1038/s41565-020-00790-3. ISSN 1748-3395. PMC 7855692. PMID 33199883.
  23. ^ Choe, Kibaek; Hontani, Yusaku; Wang, Tianyu; Hebert, Eric; Ouzounov, Dimitre G.; Lai, Kristine; Singh, Ankur; Béguelin, Wendy; Melnick, Ari M.; Xu, Chris (February 2022). "Intravital three-photon microscopy allows visualization over the entire depth of mouse lymph nodes". Nature Immunology. 23 (2): 330–340. doi:10.1038/s41590-021-01101-1. ISSN 1529-2916. PMC 9210714. PMID 35087231.
  24. ^ Béguelin, Wendy; Rivas, Martín A.; Calvo Fernández, María T.; Teater, Matt; Purwada, Alberto; Redmond, David; Shen, Hao; Challman, Matt F.; Elemento, Olivier; Singh, Ankur; Melnick, Ari M. (2017-10-12). "EZH2 enables germinal centre formation through epigenetic silencing of CDKN1A and an Rb-E2F1 feedback loop". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 877. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8..877B. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01029-x. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5638898. PMID 29026085.
  25. ^ Kim, Sungwoong; Shah, Shivem B.; Graney, Pamela L.; Singh, Ankur (June 2019). "Multiscale engineering of immune cells and lymphoid organs". Nature Reviews Materials. 4 (6): 355–378. Bibcode:2019NatRM...4..355K. doi:10.1038/s41578-019-0100-9. ISSN 2058-8437. PMC 6941786. PMID 31903226.
  26. ^ Purwada, Alberto; Singh, Ankur (January 2017). "Immuno-engineered organoids for regulating the kinetics of B-cell development and antibody production". Nature Protocols. 12 (1): 168–182. doi:10.1038/nprot.2016.157. ISSN 1750-2799. PMC 6355337. PMID 28005068.
  27. ^ "Discover Magazine". www.discovermagazine.com. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  28. ^ "Orchestrating Organoids". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  29. ^ Slavkovic-Lukic, Dragana; Gattinoni, Luca (August 2024). "Nanowires engineer naive T cells for immunotherapy". Nature Nanotechnology. 19 (8): 1085–1086. doi:10.1038/s41565-024-01651-z. ISSN 1748-3395. PMID 38802668.
  30. ^ "Nanowires Create Elite Warriors to Enhance T-Cell Therapy | Research". research.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  31. ^ Gaharwar, Akhilesh K.; Singh, Irtisha (April 2023). "A synthetic tumour microenvironment". Nature Materials. 22 (4): 412–413. Bibcode:2023NatMa..22..412G. doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01511-6. ISSN 1476-4660. PMID 36928384.
  32. ^ "Groundbreaking Lymphoma Tumor Model Paves Way for New Therapies | Research". research.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  33. ^ Scholze, Hanna; Stephenson, Regan E.; Reynolds, Raymond; Shah, Shivem; Puri, Rishi; Butler, Scott D.; Trujillo-Alonso, Vicenta; Teater, Matthew R.; van Besien, Herman; Gibbs-Curtis, Destini; Ueno, Hideki; Parvin, Salma; Letai, Anthony; Mathew, Susan; Singh, Ankur (2020-10-27). "Combined EZH2 and Bcl-2 inhibitors as precision therapy for genetically defined DLBCL subtypes". Blood Advances. 4 (20): 5226–5231. doi:10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002580. ISSN 2473-9529. PMC 7594393. PMID 33104794.
  34. ^ "ClinicalTrials.gov". clinicaltrials.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  35. ^ Singh, Ankur; Gaharwar, Akhilesh K., eds. (2016). Microscale Technologies for Cell Engineering. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20726-1. ISBN 978-3-319-20725-4.
  36. ^ "Singh Elected to AIMBE College of Fellows | George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering". www.me.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  37. ^ a b "Ankur Singh, Ph.D. COF-7119 - AIMBE". Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  38. ^ a b "Wellcome Leap Grant Funds Work to Create Human Immune Responses". bme.gatech.edu. 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  39. ^ a b "Singh wins grant from defense department for cancer research | Cornell Chronicle". news.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  40. ^ "2022 Research Grants – Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation". Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  41. ^ "Homepage". Wellcome Leap: Unconventional Projects. Funded at Scale. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  42. ^ https://www.science.org/content/page/science-advances-editorial-working-groups
  43. ^ "Editorial board - Biomaterials | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  44. ^ "Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering". SpringerLink. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  45. ^ "Advanced NanoBiomed Research Editorial Advisory Board".
  46. ^ Singh, Ankur (2019-01-16). "T cells, the last samurai against humoral rejection in lung transplants". Science Translational Medicine. 11 (475). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw5313. ISSN 1946-6234.
  47. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-11-14). "Charting the course of metastatic cells". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (467). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aav9142. ISSN 1946-6234.
  48. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-09-19). "Send in the decoys: Cell-like particles ameliorate inflammatory autoimmune arthritis". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (459). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aav0341. ISSN 1946-6234.
  49. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-07-25). "Convection-enhanced delivery of drugs for deadliest pediatric brain tumors". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (451). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aau7380. ISSN 1946-6234.
  50. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-05-30). "Bactericide hydrogel prevents orthopedic implant infections". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (443). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aau0463. ISSN 1946-6234.
  51. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-04-04). "Targeting a conserved epitope: A new chink in malaria's armor". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (435). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aat3890. ISSN 1946-6234.
  52. ^ Singh, Ankur (2018-02-07). "No one is naïve: Young infant's immunity can dodge Darwinian selection". Science Translational Medicine. 10 (427). doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aar7530. ISSN 1946-6234.
  53. ^ Harris, Bethany (2024-02-02). "Georgia Tech 2023 CIOS Award Winners". On Teaching and Learning @ Georgia Tech. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  54. ^ "Congratulations to Professor Ankur Singh for being a recipient of the 2016-2017 Excellence in Teaching Award | Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering". www.mae.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  55. ^ Landhuis, Esther (2024-03-12). "11 reasons why we've stayed in academia". Nature. 627 (8003): 453–454. doi:10.1038/d41586-024-00724-2.
  56. ^ "Ankur Singh". dev.foe.diamax.com. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  57. ^ "Singh honored as top young investigator by biomaterials society | Cornell Chronicle". news.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  58. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award # 2034202 - CAREER: DYNAMIC LIVING HYDROGEL NETWORKS FOR SPATIO-TEMPORAL CONTROL OF CELL SIGNALING". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
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