Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2026

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Anand P. Singh Area of Research Building imaging tools to study dynamics in living systems

Institution University of Mississippi

At-a-Glance

Anand P. Singh , a biophysicist who taught himself experiments as a student in rural India, now builds custom microscopes to study protein dynamics while working to expand a regional biophysics com munity in the American Mid-South. His career spans three continents and reflects both the opportu nities of global science and the challenges facing immigrant researchers navigating visa restrictions and gaps in scientific infrastructure..

Anand P. Singh

In a small farming town called “Itaunja” in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, Anand P. Singh used his tutoring earnings to buy magnets, compasses, prisms, and pendulums. With these simple tools, he was able to explore and conduct experiments that his resource-limited high school couldn’t provide. Today, Singh builds sophisticated light-sheet microscopes to watch proteins diffuse and genes activate in real time, and he’s working to establish biophysics as a recognized field in the Mid-South of the United States, where it is not as strongly established as in other regions. “Biophysics is not yet a recognized field of study or even offered as formal courses in my university,” he explains. His response has been charac teristically proactive—organizing the Mid-South Biophysics and Quantitative Biology symposium to build a sustainable regional community. The foundation for Singh’s experimental approach was laid while earning his master’s degree in chemistry at Banaras Hindu University, where he developed what he calls “a quan titative mindset” through coursework in electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, and spectroscopy. But the turning point came during a rotation at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, where he encountered Sri Rama Koti Ainavarapu ’s work on single-molecule protein biomechanics. “I was amazed to see signatures of single protein folding and unfolding,” Singh recalls, describing the experience of witnessing a custom-built atomic force microscope probe individual motor proteins. Similarly influential was his exposure to the custom mi croscopy work of Sudipta Maiti . “Seeing custom-built micro scopes, where every single lens, laser, and control unit was systematically assembled to study molecular dynamics in living systems was a turning point for me,” Singh recalls. He decided to pursue graduate studies at the National University of Singapore under Thorsten Wohland , where he built his first light-sheet microscope and developed quantitative methods for measuring protein diffusion and protein-protein interac tion maps in living cells.

Singh worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Singapore’s Mecha nobiology Institute with Timothy Saunders . “Dr. Saunders had recently established his group there to investigate various aspects of developmental processes in the fruit fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ) and zebrafish, applying principles of physics to study tissue-level dynamics and mechanics using live-cell im aging and computational tools,” he shares. “In this role, I built my second custom microscope, a digital scanning light-sheet microscope with control software written by a talented PhD student, Shabo Zhang , to image fruit fly embryonic devel opment in detail to study the biomechanics of the nervous system of developing fruit fly embryos.” The work required mastering an entirely new skill set. “During this period, I was fortunate to get trained by a talented and dedicated biology postdoc, Christopher Amourda , on how to identify male versus female flies, set up crosses, and the basics of fly husbandry,” he notes. “It was a fun, collaborative, and intellectually stim ulating environment that fostered significant growth within the lab.” Following his time at the Mechanobiology Institute, he began a postdoc position at Princeton University with Thomas Gregor . Singh details, “There, I developed a biophysical imaging tool to study transcription kinetics in developing fruit fly embryos. This was a highly collaborative effort involving advanced fly genetics with Eric Wieschaus , optogenetics with Ping Wu and Jared Toettcher , and novel two-photon imaging with opto genetic perturbation microscope development. As part of this diverse team, we demonstrated that acutely perturbing transcription factor concentrations while simultaneously recording output gene activity provides a powerful approach for studying gene regulatory networks with unprecedented accuracy.” Continuing his research journey, he joined St. Jude Chil dren’s Research Hospital as a Scientist in the group of Scott Blanchard , a pioneer and inspiration to many early-career scientists in the biophysics community, particularly in the single-molecule field. Blanchard is the recipient of the 2025

March 2026

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