Kristi Anseth grew up in Williston, North Dakota. 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 where she began her research career as an undergraduate student in the lab of Nicholas A. Peppas, 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 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thomas Cech, 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 Chemical and Biological Engineering. She serves on Purdue's College of Engineering Advisory Council. Anseth is working at the intersection of materials science, chemistry and biology, studying natural and synthetic hydrogels and using biomaterials to create an extracellular matrix 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, 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 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 tissue engineering 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, serving as Vice President in 2015 and President in 2016.
