Faculty & Staff

Anna Hickerson, PhD

Dr. Hickerson received her BS in Engineering and Applied Science and her PhD in Bioengineering from the California Institute of Technology, where she studied cardiovascular fluid mechanics. Since joining KGI, she has worked on the design of medical diagnostic instruments, image processing of microscopy data, heart pump technologies, and assistive technologies. She is also the program director for the Master of Science in Medical Device Engineering, teaching courses in product development, design, prototyping, and data analytics. Hickerson is a listed inventor on 17 issued U.S. patents.

  1. Zambon, Alexander C, Tom Hsu, Seunghee Erin Kim, Miranda Klinck, Jennifer Stowe, Lindsay M Henderson, Donald Singer, et al. 2020. “Methods and Sensors for Functional Genomic Studies of Cell-Cycle Transitions in Single Cells.” Physiological Genomics 52 (10): 468–77.
  2. Niemz, Angelika, Anna Hickerson, Kristina Roskos, and Hsiang-Wei Lu. 2017. “System and Cartridge for Efficient Nucleic Acid Testing.” US Patent 9,797,006
  3. Doebler, II Robert W, Christopher Cooney, Anna Hickerson, James D Sterling, and Ali Nadim. 2014. “Systems and Devices for Isothermal Biochemical Reactions and/or Analysis.” US Patent 8,784,736
  4. Lu, Hsiang-Wei, Kristina Roskos, Anna I Hickerson, Thomas Carey, and Angelika Niemz. 2013. “System for Portable Nucleic Acid Testing in Low Resource Settings.” In Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XI, 8615:83–94. SPIE.
  5. Roskos, Kristina, Anna I Hickerson, Hsiang-Wei Lu, Tanya M Ferguson, Deepali N Shinde, Yvonne Klaue, and Angelika Niemz. 2013. “Simple System for Isothermal DNA Amplification Coupled to Lateral Flow Detection.” PLoS One 8 (7): e69355.
  6. Gharib, Morteza, Anna Iwaniec, and Richmond A Wolf. 2011. “Intravascular Miniature Stent Pump.” US Patent 7,998,190
  7. Kheradvar, Arash, Morteza Gharib, and Anna Hickerson. 2011. “Helically Actuated Positive-Displacement Pump and Method.” US Patent 7,883,325
  8. Doebler, Robert W, Barbara Erwin, Anna Hickerson, Bruce Irvine, Denice Woyski, Ali Nadim, and James D Sterling. 2009. “Continuous-Flow, Rapid Lysis Devices for Biodefense Nucleic Acid Diagnostic Systems.” JALA: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation 14 (3): 119–25.
  9. Forouhar, Arian S, Michael Liebling, Anna Hickerson, Abbas Nasiraei-Moghaddam, Huai-Jen Tsai, Jay R Hove, Scott E Fraser, Mary E Dickinson, and Morteza Gharib. 2006. “The Embryonic Vertebrate Heart Tube Is a Dynamic Suction Pump.” Science 312 (5774): 751–53.
  10. Hickerson, Anna Iwaniec, Derek Rinderknecht, and Morteza Gharib. 2005. “Experimental Study of the Behavior of a Valveless Impedance Pump.” Experiments in Fluids 38: 534–40.

Dr. Hickerson’s research interests are focused on three areas: cardiovascular pumps, instrumentation for medical diagnostics and scientific equipment, and assistive technology. Her work on heart pumps began in her PhD, leading to several patents and a publication in Science. She is currently collaborating on a novel LVAD. Her contributions include various nucleic diagnostic instrument components and, most recently, software development for the Etaluma Lumascope. Recently, she has begun work on assistive gaming technology for the elderly population. Her skills include combining mechanical, electrical, and software design.

Arash Kheradvar, Morteza Gharib, Anna Hickerson (2014) Helically actuated positive- displacement pump and method, US Patents 7883325 and 8794937

Robert Doebler, Christopher Cooney, Anna Hickerson, James D. Sterling, Ali Nadim (2014) Systems and Devices for Isothermal Biochemical Reactions and/or Analysis, US Patents  8153064 and 8784736

Belgrader, Phil, Christopher G. Cooney, Robert Doebler, Anna Hickerson, Bruce Irvine, Ali Nadim, James Sterling, Reza Miraghaie (2014) Temperature control device with a flexible  temperature control surface, US Patents 7955841, 8334117, 8603783, 8759085

Timothy L. Hunter, Edith W. Fung, Mitch Mallough, Catherine P. Ha, Dustin P. Hassell, Anna Iwaniec Hickerson, Meng-Hsin Lin, Joshua Lawrence Miller, Johnathan Louis Weaver, Joy Catherine Won (2013) Remote Control, D680972

Derek Rinderknecht, Morteza Gharib, Laurence Loumes, Arian Sureush Forouhar, Anna Hickerson (2012) Resonant Multilayered Impedance Pump, US Patent 8092365

Morteza Gharib, Anna Hickerson, Richmond A. Wolf (2011) Intravascular miniature stent pump, US Patent 7998190

Morteza Gharib, Anna Hickerson, Jijie Zhou, Flavio Noca (2007) Hydroimpedance pump US Patent 7,163,385