Kristi S. Anseth is the Tisone Distinguished Professor of

Chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

and

Biological Engineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

, an Associate Professor of

Surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...

, and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

. Her main research interests are the design of synthetic

biomaterials A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose, either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. As a science, biomateria ...

using

hydrogels A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still dif ...

tissue engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of Cell (biology), cells, engineering, Materials science, materials methods, and suitable biochemistry, biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintai ...

, and

regenerative medicine Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...

. Anseth was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 2009 for pioneering the rational design of biomaterials for tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biosensing applications.

Early life and education

Kristi Anseth grew up in

Williston, North Dakota Williston is a city in and the county seat of Williams County, North Dakota, United States. The 2020 census gave its population as 29,160, making Williston the sixth-largest city in North Dakota. The city's population nearly doubled between 20 ...

. She played on both the volleyball and basketball teams at the University of North Dakota-Williston, earning the honor of Academic All-American in her second year. Kristi Anseth transferred to

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

where she began her research career as an undergraduate student in the lab of

Nicholas A. Peppas Nicholas (Nikolaos) A. Peppas ( gr, Νικόλαος Α. Πέππας; born August 25, 1948 in Athens, Greece) is a chemical and biomedical engineer whose leadership in biomaterials science and engineering, drug delivery, bionanotechnology, phar ...

, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1992. She obtained her PhD in 1994, working under Christopher N. Bowman, himself a former graduate student of Nicholas Peppas, at the University of Colorado.

Career

After post-doctoral work with

Robert Langer Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng (born August 29, 1948) is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and one of the twelve Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was formerly the Germeshau ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

and

Thomas Cech Thomas Robert Cech (born December 8, 1947) is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, ...

, Anseth became an assistant professor at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1996. She currently leads the Anseth Research Group as the Tisone Distinguished Professor of

and

. She serves on Purdue's College of Engineering Advisory Council. Anseth is working at the intersection of materials science,

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

, studying natural and synthetic

and using

to create an

extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix, is a three-dimensional network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide s ...

to support three-dimensional cell enculturation. Anseth is developing photopolymers that will change from soft to hard in response to cues such as

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiatio ...

, and then degrade predictably over time. Such materials could be used to for orthopedic repairs, functioning as a replacement for damaged areas of bone and then slowly being replaced by regrowth of natural material as the body heals. Her pioneering approach applies photopolymerization and

photodegradation Photodegradation is the alteration of materials by light. Commonly, the term is used loosely to refer to the combined action of sunlight and air, which cause oxidation and hydrolysis. Often photodegradation is intentionally avoided, since it destro ...

to enable precise control in space and time of hydrogels' structure and composition. This research involves fundamental investigations into the molecular dynamics of processes at the cell-biomaterial interface. Anseth is also working on the

of biomaterials for the replacement of cartilage and heart valves. By combining photopolymers and lab-grown cartilage her lab is creating living replacements for worn-out joints. The problem is more difficult than replacing bone because the cartilage in joints, unlike bone, does not have the ability to regrow. She has published more than 250 papers and filed for at least 18 patents. She has been involved in editorial activities of journals including '' Biomacromolecules'', ''Journal of Biomedical Materials Research — Part A'', '' Acta Biomaterialia'', '' Progress in Materials Science'', '' Biotechnology and Bioengineering'' and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. In September 2014, she was elected the Vice President/President-Elect of the

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

(MRS), serving as Vice President in 2015 and President in 2016.

Awards and honors

In 1999, Anseth was named to the

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

TR100 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at ''Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. Kristi Anseth was the first engineer, male or female, to be selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. At age 40, she was the youngest member ever to be elected to both the

(2009) and the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

(2009). In 2013, she was also elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

. She shares the distinction of being a member of all three with chemical engineers

Cato Laurencin Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., FREng SLMH, (St. Lucia, Medal of Honor, Gold) (born January 15, 1959) is an American engineer, physician, scientist, innovator and a University Professor of the University of Connecticut (one of two at the Unive ...

, Robert S. Langer, Nicholas A. Peppas, Frances Arnold, and Rakesh K. Jain. As of 2015, she was also named to the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010 ...

. She was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2019. Other awards and honors include: * 2016, Honorary Doctorate, Purdue University, College of Engineering * 2015, Bayer Distinguished Lectureship,

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

* 2015, Bonfils-Stanton Awards, Science and Medicine honoree * 2013, James E. Bailey Award,

Society for Biological Engineering A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

* 2012,

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted. History There was a short-lived recogniti ...

* 2012, Distinguished Engineering Alumni award, Purdue University * 2009, Fellow of the

* 2008, Clemson Award for Basic Research from the Society for Biomaterials * 2005, Elizabeth Gee Award, University of Colorado * 2004, Alan T. Waterman Award, National Science Foundation * 2001, Outstanding Young Investigator Award,

References

External links

Anseth Research Group
University of Colorado Boulder
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anseth, Kristi Living people 21st-century American chemists Howard Hughes Medical Investigators 1969 births Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the National Academy of Medicine Place of birth missing (living people) People from Williston, North Dakota Purdue University College of Engineering alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni Scientists from North Dakota