Kristi S. Anseth from the University of Colorado has been selected by the Materials Research Society (MRS) for the inaugural Mid-Career Researcher Award.
She will be receiving this award for her excellent success in biology and materials, which has resulted in developments in cancer treatment, stem-cell differentiation, and regenerative medicine and has enabled new and functional biomaterials that can respond to the basic biological issues. The 2012 MRS spring meeting will be held on 11 April in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Aldrich Materials Science endows this MRS Mid-Career Researcher Award that honors the mid-career professionals, who has made excellent achievements in materials research. This new award is an addition to the existing line of MRS Awards, which is aimed at scientists whose work lies between the senior Von Hippel and David Turnbull Lectureship awards and the Outstanding Young Investigator (OYI) award.
Anseth is a main inventor and scientist in regenerative medicine and the biomaterials field. Her innovative approach integrates the potential of synthesizing polymers using high-defined structures with know-how of the behavior of molecules at the cell-biomaterial interface. She has revolutionized the field through the seminal work done on the method of transmission of extracellular cues through the cells and new ways of biomolecule presentation. Anseth has been honored for merging new cellular and molecular biology together with quantitative and engineering processes in order to manufacture the biomaterials for use in delivery, cell culture, and tissue regeneration.
In 1996, she joined the University of Colorado, after her research fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She became a Howard Hughes Investigator, and was honored as “one of the 100 engineers of the modern era” by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 2001, Anseth got the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator award and became a MRS Fellow during 2009.