JSCBB A415
Kristen Bjorkman, PhD, is the Director of Interdisciplinary Research at the BioFrontiers Institute. In this position, she uses her interdisciplinary, logistical, and communication skills to enhance the BioFrontiers research environment, which is committed to uniting scientists from different fields and breaking down traditional barriers in order to promote collaborative science. Her scientific philosophy focuses on finding creative, collaborative solutions to complex problems by drawing on individuals in diverse fields. Prior to her role in BioFrontiers, she served as the CU Boulder COVID Scientific Director, where she played key roles in establishing a campus-wide surveillance testing system and analyzing data streams in real time to advise on the CU Boulder pandemic response. She earned a PhD in biochemistry at CU Boulder in 2008 where she studied transcriptional regulation and performed post-doctoral work in the lab of Dr. Leslie Leinwand (MCDB Department and BioFrontiers Institute) where she focused on understanding genetic heart and skeletal muscle diseases. Her work ranged from the molecular to the organismic level in order to provide holistic understanding of how a molecular lesion manifests in variable phenotypes.