Kimberley S. Samkoe

Kimberley S. Samkoe is an Associate Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering. She previously held an Assistant Research Professor position in the Department of Surgery at Geisel School of Medicine. Her research focuses on molecular fluorescence imaging for cancer diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring, employing a biological systems engineering approach to bridge microscopic molecular data and macro-scale clinical insights. Dr. Samkoe's work also encompasses photodynamic therapy, spectroscopy, and the physical chemistry of fluorescent molecules.

Education: BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Regina (2001), PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Calgary (2007).

Research Interests: Molecular fluorescence imaging, fluorescence-guided surgery, biomedical systems engineering, cancer diagnostics, and photodynamic therapy. Her lab (SAMKOE Lab) develops technologies to quantify in vivo molecular expression for clinical applications, including tumor detection and surgical resection guidance.

Key Contributions: Pioneering dual-tracer molecular imaging approaches for tumor receptor quantification and developing fluorescent agents like ABY-029 for EGFR targeting in sarcomas. Her work has advanced real-time surgical navigation and non-invasive monitoring of cancer therapies.

• Awards: MERIT Award (NCI, 2018–present), Faculty Research Award (Dartmouth-Hitchcock, 2019–2020), Harmes Scholar (2014–2016).
• Grants: NIH-funded projects on ultrasound-nanodroplet imaging for oral cancer detection (2024) and collaborative work on multiplex imaging systems.

Labs/Teams: SAMKOE Lab at Thayer School of Engineering, collaborating with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Geisel School of Medicine. Active in translational research to bridge engineering innovations with clinical oncology.