Dr. Katie Hixon is an Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where she has served since January 2022. She was born and raised in Iowa, where she received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa. She then earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Saint Louis University and completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, where she was awarded the NIH F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. Dr. Hixon's lab is currently funded by an NIH R01 award investigating how irradiated craniofacial bone can be restored through targeted biomaterial and cellular interventions. Her research combines biomaterials engineering with cellular senescence biology to develop novel dental, oral, craniofacial, and musculoskeletal tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies, with a particular focus on understanding and overcoming the biological barriers that prevent healing in damaged or irradiated tissue.

Dr. Afton Limberg is a first year postdoc and a recent Ph.D. graduate from Dartmouth College. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent five years as a research technologist at the Mayo Clinic before beginning her graduate studies. Her research focuses on tendon aging, orthopedic biomaterials, and STEM outreach and education. Outside the lab, Afton enjoys skiing, mountain biking, backpacking, and hiking.

Dr. Daniel Merryweather is a Guarini Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, where he works under Prof. Katie Hixon with additional mentorship from Prof. Alexander Boys. He earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Loughborough University, where his research focused on three-dimensional neuromuscular tissue constructs and the use of fluid flow to engineer hydrogel structure and guide cell behaviour. He subsequently worked on nanofilters for liquid biopsy analysis and engineered human neuronal networks for biological computing through the integration of microfabricated devices and high-density microelectrode arrays. At Dartmouth, Dan is interested in integrating bioelectronics with 3D biomaterials to develop improved interfaces between engineered technologies and biological tissues. Outside of the lab, he enjoys skiing, playing airsoft, and reading science fiction.