Home >> Research Overview >> Research by Faculty Member
Kristi S. Anseth

Tisone Professor, Associate Professor of Surgery, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

ECCH 128

(303) 492-3147
kristi.anseth@colorado.edu

Education:

B.S., Purdue University (1992)
Ph.D., University of Colorado (1994)

Awards:

• 2008 - Named Distinguished Professor of the University of Colorado by CU Board of Regents
• 2008 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, University of Colorado
• 2008 Clemson Award for Basic Research from the Society for Biomaterials
• 2007 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research in the College of Engineering & Applied Science

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow (2006)

• Elizabeth Gee Award, University of Colorado (2005)

• NSF Alan T. Waterman Award (2004)
• AIChE Allan P. Colburn Award (2003)
• ASEE McGraw Research Award (2003)
• Hutchinson Teaching Award, College of Engineering and Applied Science (2002)
• Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2001)
• AIMBE Fellow (2001)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Assistant Investigator (2000)
• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2000)
• NIH FIRST Award (1998)
• NSF CAREER Award (1998)
• David and Lucile Packard Fellowship (1997)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award (1996)

Selected Publications:

B.D. Polizzotti, B.D. Fairbanks and K.S. Anseth, “Three-dimensional Biochemical Patterning of Click-based PEG Peptide Hydrogels,” Biomacromolecules, 9, 1084-7 (2008).

H.S. Simms, C.N. Bowman and K.S. Anseth, “Using Living Radical Polymerization to Enable Facile Incorporation of Materials in Microfluidic Cell Culture Devices,” Biomaterials, 29, 2228-36 (2008).

C.R. Nuttelman, M.A. Rice, A.E. Rydholm, D.N. Shah and K.S. Anseth, “Macromolecular monomers for the synthesis of hydrogel niches and their application in cell encapsulation and tissue engineering,” Progress in Polymer Science, 33, 167-79 (2008).

L.M. Weber, C.Y. Cheung and K.S. Anseth, “Multifunctional pancreatic islet encapsulation barriers achieved via multilayer PEG hydrogels,” Cell Transplantation, 16, 1049-57 (2008).

M.C. Cushing and K.S. Anseth, “Hydrogel Cell Cultures,” Science, 316, 1133-34 (2007).

L.M. Weber, K.N. Hayda and K.S. Anseth, “The effects of cell-matrix interactions on encapsulated beta-cell function within hydrogels functionalized with matrix-derived adhesive peptides,” Biomaterials, 28, 3004-3011 (2007).

D.S.W. Benoit, S.D. Collins and K.S. Anseth, “Multifunctional hydrogels that promote osteogenic hMSC differentiation through stimulation and sequestering of BMP2,” Advanced Functional Materials, 17, 2085-93 (2007). 

M.C. Cushing, J-T. Liao, M.P. Jaeggli and K.S. Anseth, “Material-based regulation of the myofibroblast phenotype,” Biomaterials, 28, 3378-87 (2007).

M.A. Rice and K.S. Anseth, “Controlling Cartilaginous Matrix Evolution in Hydrogels with Degradation Triggered by Exogenous Addition of an Enzyme,” Tissue Engineering, 13, 683-691 (2007).

A.W. Watkins, S.L. Southard and K.S. Anseth, “Characterizing multilaminated hydrogels with spatially varying network structure and solute loading using confocal laser scanning microscopy,” Acta Biomaterialia, 3, 439-48 (2007).

Research Interests:

Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering, Photopolymerizations, and Degradable Polymer Networks

Many of the current biomaterials in clinical use today were originally developed for other applications, and such off-the-shelf materials became a biomaterial when someone pursued the trial-and-error process of implanting the material and "seeing what happens." In contrast to this approach, our group is pursuing new directions towards the rational design of biomaterials and, specifically, how photopolymerization processes can be used to provide numerous advantages for medical applications. For the past few years, we have been exploring, designing, and characterizing new generations of multifunctional macromers that can be photopolymerized to form degradable networks, where the degradation is predictable and readily controlled. From a biomaterial perspective, photoinitiated polymerizations are beneficial for many reasons including fast curing rates under physiological conditions, spatial and temporal control of the polymerization, and the ability to generate complex 3D structures in situ. The resulting degradable networks are advantageous since they circumvent the need for implant retrieval and are useful in applications ranging from controlled release of drugs to tissue engineering scaffolds. Currently, ongoing projects in our group include the design of new orthopaedic biomaterials for fracture fixation, photoencapsulation of chondrocytes for cartilage tissue engineering, biomimetic approaches to heart valve tissue engineering, microfluidic bioassays, photopolymerization of micro and nanoparticles for drug delivery, DNA delivery for tissue engineering applications, and photopolymerizable tissue adhesives. Our research combines a mixture of polymer chemistry and physics, molecular and cellular biology, and molecular simulations and modeling with fundamental engineering principles to address problems of importance to the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering.

For details related to current research projects in our group, please visit www.Colorado.EDU/che/ansethgroup/.