Dr. Kathryn Grandfield – Faculty of Engineering
Image of Kathryn Grandfield

Dr. Kathryn Grandfield

Expertise

Biomaterials, osseointegration, electron microscopy, mineralized tissues, electron tomography, atom probe tomography

Current status

  • Accepting graduate students

  • Associate Chair Graduate

    Materials Science and Engineering

  • Associate Professor

    Materials Science and Engineering

  • Associate Professor

    McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

  • Canada Research Chair in Microscopy of Biomaterials and Biointerfaces (Tier 2)

    Materials Science and Engineering

Overview

The Grandfield Research Group focuses on the development and multi-length scale characterization of biomaterials for bone interfacing applications in orthopedics and dentistry. Our research is pioneering the investigation of bone-implant interfaces and mineralized tissues with multi-dimensional (3D and 4D) and high-resolution microscopies, such as X-ray, electron, ion beam, liquid phase, and atom probe microscopies. The insights made through this work are contributing to the design of novel materials for improved implant success, as well as an improved understanding of healthy and pathological bone. Other research themes in our group include the development and surface modification of bone scaffolds and implants, including additive manufacturing (3D-printing) of metallic implants for bone regeneration.

Dr. Kathryn Grandfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University where she is University Scholar and Canada Research Chair in Microscopy of Biomaterials and Biointerfaces. Her research interests include development of biomaterials and correlative multi-scale microscopies for biointerfaces and mineralized tissues. She received her PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the recipient of a 2017 Petro Canada Young Innovator Award, 2018 Early Research Award from the Ontario Research Fund and 2019 Faculty of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award. She is Past-President of the Microscopical Society of Canada and has served on the board of the Canadian Biomaterials Society and as inaugural Director of User Operations for the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy.

B.Eng., M.A.Sc. McMaster, Ph.D. Uppsala University, P.Eng

  • University Scholar (2023)
  • President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision (2022)
  • Tier II Canada Research Chair in Microscopy of Biomaterials and Biointerfaces (2021)
  • Faculty of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (2019)
  • Faculty of Engineering Large Section Dean’s Teaching Honour Roll (2019)
  • Early Researcher Award – Ontario Research Fund (2018–2023)
  • Petro Canada – McMaster University Young Innovator Award (2017)
  • Dean’s Teaching Honour Roll, McMaster University (2016, 2017)
  • European Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Doctoral Award, European Society for Biomaterials (2013)

Did you know?

The Grandfield Lab uses some of the most advanced microscopes at the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy to understand bone structure and function.