Caitlin Hopkins is a senior Ph.D. Candidate in Therapeutic Sciences in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Morgan at Brown University. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science from University of New Hampshire and a Master’s in Biotechnology from Brown University. She works on 3D cell culture, tissue engineering, and particularly the study of the extracellular matrix and associated alterations. Her doctoral work focuses on the interaction of IL-13 and TGF-beta and their effect on a fibrotic phenotype as manifested in a novel 3D fibroblast ring tissue model. This model is highly tunable to recapitulate a number of biochemical changes, as well as, correlate them with changes in tissue biomechanics.