Catherine M. Klapperich, PhD

Professor (BME, MSE, ME)

Office CILSE, 4th floor
Email catherin@bu.edu
Phone 617-358-0253
Website Klapperich Laboratory

In the News

Biomaterials Lab Beefs Up with Mass. Life Sciences Grant
December 19, 2025
The state funds will help BU BME students gain the up-to-date lab experience they need to land internships and jobs. [ More ]

Publications

View a complete list of publications chronologically by year.
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Research Areas

Dr. Klapperich earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 from the University of California, Berkeley ; her S.M. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University; and her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University. Before coming to Boston, Dr. Klapperich was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory under Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, and was a Senior Research Scientist at Aclara Biosciences in Mountain View, CA.

Dr. Klapperich’s research is focused on engineering female reproductive tissue models and on engineering medical devices for use in low resource settings and at the point of care. These include the early diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, continuous physiological monitoring of hormones and endocrine disrupting chemicals, and development of microfluidic and high throughput cell and organoid culture.

She is building a biobank of human female reproductive tissues and cells to expand the ability of scientists to study new treatments and understudied pathologies.

Honors and Awards

BU College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, 2021
BU College of Engineering Societal Engineer Award, 2021
AAAS Fellow, 2020
Inaugural Dorf-Ebner Faculty Fellow, 2014 – 2019
BMES Fellow, 2018
Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2014
Faculty Fellow, Kern Family Foundation, 2010 – 2014

Additional Affiliations

Division of Materials Science & Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Scientific Director, DAMP Lab

Departments or Divisions: Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Affiliations: Materials by Design, Primary & Affiliated Faculty, Synthetic Biology, Tissue Engineering & Mechanobiology

View all profiles

Catherine M. Klapperich, PhD

Professor (BME, MSE, ME)

In the News

Biomaterials Lab Beefs Up with Mass. Life Sciences Grant

Publications