Cathie Klapperich

Dr. Catherine Klapperich is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. She holds appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the Division of Materials Science and Engineering. She is the Scientific Director of the Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Process Laboratory (DAMP Lab) in the BU Biological Design Center.  

 

Dr. Klapperich joined BU as an Assistant Professor in 2003 and has built an internationally recognized research program. She invented technologies to expand the use of diagnostics into resource limited settings in the United States and around the World. Her work includes screening for human papilloma virus (HPV), testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, malaria, and HIV viral load monitoring.

 

In 2020, Dr. Klapperich led the design and scale up of campus wide COVID-19 testing in a new facility at Boston University. Dr. Klapperich’s 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.

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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). 

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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. 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).