Jane Hill

Jane Hill served as Associate Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1995 and 1996, respectively, an M.S. from Yale University in 2002, and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 2006. Following her doctoral studies, she conducted postdoctoral research with Jordan Peccia at Yale. Prior to her academic career, Hill operated a small bioremediation company in central New York State. She spent over a decade researching organic phosphorus cycling in the environment before transitioning her focus to infectious diseases and metabolomics. At Dartmouth, Hill's research specialized in breath-based diagnostics for respiratory infections, utilizing metabolomics to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by pathogens. Her team developed breathprints to differentiate bacterial, viral, and fungal lung infections, with applications for tuberculosis diagnosis and monitoring chronic conditions like cystic fibrosis. This work supported the creation of point-of-care devices for rapid, non-invasive testing.

Hill's contributions earned her election to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows in 2019, recognizing her advancements in metabolomics for early lung infection detection. Additional honors include the Anton Ammon Prize from the International Association of Breath Research in 2018 and inclusion in The Analytical Scientist's Power List Top 100 in 2019. Notable publications encompass 'Breath can discriminate tuberculosis from other lower respiratory illnesses in children' (Scientific Reports, 2021), 'Streptomyces exploration is triggered by fungal interactions and volatile signals' (eLife, 2017), 'Fast detection of volatile organic compounds from bacterial cultures by secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry' (Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2010), 'Detecting bacterial lung infections: in vivo evaluation of in vitro volatile fingerprints' (Journal of Breath Research, 2013), and 'Bacterial volatile discovery using solid phase microextraction and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry' (Journal of Chromatography B, 2012). She also served as house professor for Allen House residential community and participated in collaborative initiatives like SYNERGY grants for breath analysis research. Hill's innovations have significantly influenced medical diagnostics, enhancing prospects for accessible infectious disease detection worldwide.