Vijendra K. Singh

Vijendra Kumar Singh is a neuroimmunologist who formerly held a post at Utah State University, prior to which he was a professor at the University of Michigan. While affiliated with both institutions, he conducted some controversial autism-related research focusing on the potential role of immune system disorders in the etiology of autism. For example, he has testified before a United States congressional committee that, in his view, "three quarters of autistic children suffer from an autoimmune disease."

Career

Singh originally worked at a children's hospital in Vancouver, and is the author of over 100 scientific publications. The original focus of his research was neurochemistry, but his interest in the role of the immune system in neurodevelopmental disorders was sparked after reading an article on the mind-body relationship, which proposed a biological mechanism to explain the signaling taking place both in the brain and in the immune system. In 2004, Singh gave a talk before the Institute of Medicine in which he recommended testing for immune disorders before vaccinating children, a proposal which was declined, according to Singh, because of its high cost (almost $100 per child). As of 2009 he was working at the Brain State International Research Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is currently affiliated with Neuro Immune Biotechnology Solutions, as the organization's scientific director. He is also a member of the Autism Autoimmunity Project.

Research

In 1998, Singh, while affiliated with the University of Michigan, coauthored a paper in Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology reporting the presence of antibodies to myelin basic protein in autistic children and arguing that a virally triggered autoimmune response might cause autism. In 2002, Singh et al.