Ankur Singh

My research aims to develop “living” immune tissues as organoids or on-chip to recapitulate dynamic immunological events in lymph nodes and spleen and enable discovery and/or translation of immunotherapies. Our engineered materials in organoids communicate and manipulate the decision-making process of immune cells at the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic levels. Our application areas are cancer, infections, and inflammation. Within the cancer engineering, we have developed ex vivo “malignant” immune tissues by integrating micro-nano-bioengineering, patient-derived lymphoma cells, biomaterials, tissue mechanics, transport and lymphatic-like fluid flow. 

We are interested in discovering how biophysical forces and tissue microenvironment influence immune cell receptor signaling and epigenetics of lymphomas, as well as therapeutic responses. Finally, an emerging area in the laboratory is materials-based immunomodulation in metabolic syndrome patients that manifest poor immunity due to alterations in the gut microbiome. Research in Singh laboratory is supported by the National Institute of Health (NIAID, NCI, NIBIB), Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, 3M, and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Learn more here.