Prof. Singh receives 2018 3M non-tenured faculty award

Ankur Singh, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, is a recipient of the 2018 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award. The 3M award recognizes outstanding faculty on the basis of research, experience, teaching and academic leadership. In addition to the recognition, the award provides an annual financial support, for a total of three years, and includes an invitation to 3M in June, 2018. The award was created over twenty-five years ago to invest in individuals who will lead university teaching and research programs in the future. The 3M award will support development of dynamic biomaterials that prevent infection and inflammation in lung and periodontal diseases

“I am deeply honored and grateful for the support from 3M. It comes at an important time in my career as an Assistant Professor, and the award will help me initiate a relatively new area in my lab,” Singh says.

Prof. Singh is an immune-engineer and his lab’s research effort centers on creating functional "living" immune tissues to communicate dynamically with human and mouse immune cells, and to manipulate cell’s behavior. Using engineering principles, he studies how immune cells undergo decision making at the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic (chromatin) levels to protect humans from infectious threats. He applies principles of biomaterials engineering, fluid mechanics, tissue and material mechanics, cell engineering, and integrate these with fundamental concepts of immunology and pathology. He is further interested in understanding how disruption of normal immune processes result in transformation of "protector" immune cells to "malignant" cancer cells of immune system (called lymphomas). His ultimate goal is to better understand immune-related diseases and develop new therapies. He is a recipient of the prestigious NSF CAREER award, DoD Career award, 2017 Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award, Cellular and Molecular bioengineering Young Innovators Award, CMBE Rising Star Award, and a 2017 Teaching Excellence Award from Cornell’s College of Engineering. His current research is funded through the National Institute of Health (NIAID, NCI), National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, among others.