The Materials Research Society has named Tisone Professor, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Kristi S. Anseth of the University of Colorado–Boulder to receive the inaugural Mid-Career Researcher Award for her “exceptional achievement at the interface of materials and biology enabling new, functional biomaterials that answer fundamental questions in biology and yield advances in regenerative medicine, stem-cell differentiation, and cancer treatment.” Anseth will be recognized during the awards ceremony at the 2012 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco. The Mid-Career Researcher Award, endowed by Aldrich Materials Science, recognizes exceptional achievements in materials research by mid-career professionals.
Anseth is a leading researcher and inventor in the fields of biomaterials and regenerative medicine. She has shown how control of the chemical, biological, and physical properties of biomaterials enables one to probe fundamental cell biology questions and use this information in targeted applications in tissue regeneration. Her approach is unique in that she combines the ability to synthesize polymers with highly defined structures with an understanding of the molecular dynamics of processes at the cell–biomaterial interface. Her seminal work on the mechanisms of how extracellular cues are transmitted through cells and her innovative approaches for biomolecule presentation have revolutionized the field. Anseth is widely recognized for blending modern molecular and cellular biology with engineering and quantitative methods to generate the next generation of biomaterials for cell culture, delivery, and tissue regeneration.
Most recently, Anseth has focused on creating new biofunctionalized hydrogel materials using click chemistry. She has applied novel hydrogels to engineer stem-cell differentiation, craniofacial regeneration, pancreatic cell encapsulation, modulation of inflammation, protein delivery, and heart valve repair. She has demonstrated how photodegradable gels that allow real-time manipulation of materials properties or chemistry can provide dynamic environments to answer fundamental questions about materials regulation of live cell function. This ability can affect an array of applications from design of drug delivery vehicles to tissue engineering systems.
Anseth’s contributions have been translated into a number of medical products, and she has started two startup companies on biomaterials and tissue engineering.
Following her research fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Anseth joined the University of Colorado in 1996. Among her many honors are election to the National Academy of Engineering and to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, selection as the first engineer to become a Howard Hughes Investigator, and recognition by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers as “one of the 100 engineers of the modern era.” Anseth is a Fellow of MRS, she received the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator award, and she has served the Society as a member of the Board of Directors, chair of the Planning Committee, and co-chair of the 2009 MRS Fall Meeting. She received her PhD degree from the University of Colorado in 1994. She holds 17 patents and has published over 220 papers.
