Anirban Bandyopadhyay is an Indian physicist and nanoscientist known for his research in molecular electronics, unconventional computing, and biophysics of consciousness. He is currently a Principal Research Scientist at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), part of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan. [1]
Bandyopadhyay completed his Ph.D. in physics at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata. During his doctoral studies, he was a visiting research fellow at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom (2003–2004).
Bandyopadhyay joined NIMS in 2005 as an ICYS Research Fellow under Japan's MEXT program. He later held positions as a scientist in the Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy group from 2008 to 2010 and senior scientist in the Surface Characterization group from 2011 to 2020. In 2021, he became a principal research scientist in the Functional Chromophore group at NIMS' International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA). [2]
He was a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2013–2014. [3] Bandyopadhyay has served in editorial roles for journals including Frontiers in Neuroscience, [4] Information (MDPI), and the International Journal of Unconventional Computing. [5]
Bandyopadhyay's research spans nanotechnology, molecular electronics, biophysics, and cognitive science. [6] He has been developing reconfigurable circuits [7] for brain inspired molecular computer. [8] A Adamatzky wrote about his Quantum Cellular automaton work in Nature Physics "Most computer processors work in series, performing one instruction at a time. This limits the speed with which they can carry out certain types of task. A parallel computational approach based on arrays of simultaneously interacting molecular switches could provide a more efficient solution.". [9]
He is known for developing the concept of a "nano brain," a wheel-like architecture for molecular-scale information processing inspired by biological systems. [10] [11] The work led to invention of self-operating nanomachines that has 32 molecular motors, sensors, molecular switches in a single dendritic molecule, exhibiting potentials for cancer drug. [12]
His work has also focused on the role of rhythmic oscillations in proteins and their implications for cognition, memory, and consciousness. [13] He studied individual microtubule using scanning tunneling microscope and estimated information processing ability of microtubular network. [14]
Steve Volk wrote in Discover Magazine "this bundle of nanowire (microtubule in a neuron) resonates like a guitar string, firing thousands of times faster than normal activity in a neuron. The neuron, he thought, contrary to all current scientific understanding, wasn’t the essential, or first cause of the human thought process." [15]
Bandyopadhyay has authored or co-authored several books and numerous journal articles. Notable publications include: