PI: Aakanksha Singhvi, PhD

Email: asinghvi@fredhutch.org
Faculty Profile

Aakanksha is currently an Associate Professor in Basic Sciences Division, and an affiliate of the Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics at University of Washington School of Medicine.

She joined the Fred Hutch in 2018 after postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University, and PhD graduate studies at University of California, Berkeley. Prior to that, she was an MSc-JRF student at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS-TIFR), India and did her undergraduate honors at St. Xavier’s College, India. For most of her career, Aakanksha has focused on sensory perception and behaviors (taste, temperature, smell, touch) as a substrate to dissect neural development and function.

Her research program  has been recognized by multiple awards, including the Klingenstein-Simons Award in Neuroscience, Glenn Foundation-American Federation for Aging Research Junior Faculty Award; Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant, Anderson Foundation- Marco J. Heider Foundation Junior Faculty Award, and the Simons Foundation Bridge to Independence Award. As postdoctoral fellow, she was awarded fellowships from the American Cancer Society, NIH, and Murray Foundation. As an undergraduate, she received the University Gold Medal and JJ Chinoy Prize for scholastic performance (4000+ students), and Richard Froelich & Michael Klamut Research Scholarship for honors undergraduate thesis research. She was previously also co-founder of a research informatics consulting company (10Biosystems, LLC) (2010-2015).

Beyond science, Aakanksha is equally passionate about mentorship and enabling the next generation of STEM leaders. She was previously as Faculty co-Advisor to the Steering Committee of the Early Career Leadership Program of the Genetics Society of America (2020-2023); and currently serves on the Washington Research Foundation postdoctoral award selection committee, among other engagements.

Outside the lab, Aakanksha has trained in and performed  Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance) for 16+ years, . She also loves badminton, and walking with her dog and husband in beautiful PNW.

Her favorite quote for science and life is “We are interested in just about everything. But the brevity of life being what it is compels selectivity” (credit: Alexander J Varshavsky).

Get to know her more also at her GSA Faculty Profile and Fred Hutch Spotlight.