Cathie Klapperich
Ph.D., Professor and Chair of BioEngineering (July 2026), University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Areas of Expertise
Biomedical engineering and the female reproductive system, liquid automation for microbiology, infectious disease diagnostics.
Dr. Catherine Klapperich is Professor of BioEngineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Previously (2003-2026), she was Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University where she was the Scientific Director of the Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Process Laboratory (DAMP Lab) in the BU Biological Design Center.
Dr. Klapperich has built an internationally recognized research program. She invented technologies to expand the use of diagnostics for sexually transmitted infections into resource limited settings in the United States and around the World.
In 2020, Dr. Klapperich led the design and scale up of campus wide COVID-19 testing in a new facility at Boston University. Her leadership brought together expertise in test development, liquid handling, software design, data analytics and security, regulatory issues, and clinical test provision. Between July 2020 to May 2022, the lab performed nearly 2.5 million COVID-19 PCR tests.
Her recent research interests combine these diagnostic platforms with comprehensive approaches to public and environmental health to monitor endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment and in the body. Her approach includes high throughput culture and screening of organiods built using primary cells to model the female reproductive system. She is specifically interested in the placenta, the myometrium, and uterine fibroids (leiomyomas).
Dr. Klapperich holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, an SM in Engineering Sciences from Harvard, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where she also completed postdoctoral training with Carolyn Bertozzi in molecular and cell biology. She has received funding from the NIH, NSF, DOD, The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Africa, and others. Dr. Klapperich is a fellow of the AAAS, AIMBE, BMES, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE).
Writing and Appearances
Media Appearances
Please find my academic writing at Google Scholar. Please contact me for preprints.
Contact
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