Our Team

Principal Investigators

Jeremiah Easley, D.V.M.

Director

Dr. Easley serves as the director of the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory located within the Translational Medicine Institute at Colorado State University. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons with over 10 years of experience working with industry and institutional partners. His area of expertise focuses on the evaluation of orthopedic, spine, and sports medicine-related medical devices, and orthobiologics, utilizing both large and small animal translational models. Additionally, Dr. Easley’s research focus is aimed at developing new large animal models that more comprehensively mimic the human orthopedic conditions. Dr. Easley acquired his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, VA. He then went on to pursue large animal surgery by completing an internship at the Equine Medical Center of Ocala in Ocala, FL followed by a three-year large animal surgical residency at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL.

Jeremiah Easley’s PubMed

Katie Sikes, Ph.D.

Study Director, Rodent and Rabbit Division Manager

Katie Sikes received her Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2011 and her Doctor of Philosophy in bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2016 while completing her research at Rush University Medical Center. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Dave Frisbie at the Orthopaedic Research Center, where she was awarded a fellowship grant by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation for her work studying metabolic injury mechanisms in a mouse model of tendinopathy. In 2019, Sikes became a research scientist with the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory to spearhead the development of the Rodent and Rabbit Division.

Katie Sikes’s PubMed

Ross Palmer, D.V.M.

Surgeon

Dr. Palmer’s career has included both private specialty practice ownership and academic roles as a clinician-scientist. He serves as principal investigator on selected orthopedic projects within the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory and has particular expertise in large animal models for bone healing and ACL repair.

Palmer holds a secondary appointment in the School of Biomedical Engineering, and has served multiple roles on the board of directors for the Veterinary Orthopedic Society, most recently as president. He was the recipient of the Educator of the Year award in 2020 by the Veterinary Meeting & Expo, the world’s largest veterinary educational conference. He is currently the associate director of education for the CSU Translational Medicine Institute.

Ross Palmer’s PubMed

Howard Seim III, D.V.M.

Former Director, GLP Test Facility Management

Dr. Seim graduated from Washington State University, completed an internship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada, and a surgical residency at the Animal Medical Center in New York City. He obtained diplomate status in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1983.

Howard Seim’s PubMed

Brad Nelson, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Surgeon

Dr. Nelson’s research interests are in orthopedic disease characterization and the investigation of novel treatments using translational large animal models. These interests are focused on the use of quantitative MRI and CT imaging for early joint disease detection and monitoring of healing in articular cartilage, though extend to all orthopedic tissues.

Brad Nelson’s PubMed

Lindsey Burton, Ph.D.

Study Director

After receiving a B.S. in environmental health and an M.S. in toxicology from Colorado State University, Burton worked as an environmental health specialist prior to returning to CSU to complete a Ph.D. in toxicology. Burton’s Ph.D. focused on iron accumulation and knee osteoarthritis, a topic that she continues to investigate with Dr. Kelly Santangelo, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology.

As a postdoctoral fellow with the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory, Burton investigates molecular patterns contributing to the pathogenesis of both primary and post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis, interactions between knee joint tissues, and articular cartilage biology.

Lindsey Burton’s PubMed

Drew W. Koch, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Surgeon

Dr. Koch is a surgeon who joined the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory as a Research Scientist in 2023. He completed his DVM and large animal surgery residency at Colorado State University and his PhD in Comparative Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Dr. Koch’s research interests include studying the role of stromal cells in musculoskeletal injuries with a current focus in tendinopathy and the development, refinement, and utilization of large animal models to understand the etiology and improve treatment of musculoskeletal and orthopedic injuries.

Drew Koch’s PubMed

Katie Bisazza

Study Director

Katie has been a part of the Preclinical Surgical Research Laboratory team at Colorado State University since 2016. After receiving her PhD from Colorado State University in 2024 in Clinical Sciences, Dr. Bisazza has taken on the role of lead preclinical study director in the large animal division of PSRL. In her role, she oversees a multitude of both GLP and non-GLP preclinical studies using small ruminant models (i.e., sheep and goat) for industry and academic partners. Her previous research focused on characterizing the progression of bone loss in an ovine model of osteoporosis using advanced imaging and proteomic techniques.

Katie Bisazza’s PubMed

Ashley Potter

Ph.D. Candidate, Study Director

Ashley’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) and the role of inflammation in joint degeneration following injury. Using mouse models, her work investigates how omega-3 fatty acids, specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), and fatty acid metabolism influence tissue repair and inflammation in the context of PTOA. She aims to explore novel therapeutic strategies, including dietary modulation and direct joint supplementation, to reduce inflammation and slow the progression of PTOA.