Focus area of Engineering Health

Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine, at the interface of engineering and life sciences, exploits the properties of living cells, in combination with biomaterials, drugs or genes, to repair or replace living tissues and organs.

Building on our expertise in biomaterials and biomedical engineering, the main focus at TU/e is on materials-based in- situ tissue engineering for cardiovascular and orthopedic applications, as well as for functional organ repair, where so-called ‘instructive materials’ are being used to stimulate the regenerative capacity of the body itself. Next to this, we use our engineering skills to design computational models and in-vitro engineered tissue models that deepen our understanding of tissue development, malformation (including cancer), degeneration and regeneration.

Research is performed by highly creative multidisciplinary teams that operate at the cross-section of bioengineering, materials science, and cell and tissue biology. These teams collaborate with patient organizations, clinical partners and industry, to develop regenerative strategies that can outrange existing therapies in terms of costs and effectiveness.

Alliances with strategic partners, such as the UMC Utrecht offer opportunities to improve our impact through long-term and focused research collaborations. In addition, the educational programs in Biomedical Engineering (BME) and Regenerative Medicine and Technology (RMT) offer possibilities to train students in this multidisciplinary field.

Collaborations

The focus area is supported by various individual and consortium research grants (e.g. ERC, FP7, H2020, NWO, CVON) and many projects are performed within public-private-patient partnerships. Members participate in large regional (Chemelot-InScite) and national or cross-border inititiatives (RegMed-XB, hDMT).

From 2017-2026 the Focus Area is supported by the NWO Gravitation program “Materials- Driven Regeneration”, spearheaded by Carlijn Bouten, in which internationally leading scientists in organoid biology, materials sciences, complex tissue engineering, and clinical sciences convene to regenerate tissues and organs to cure what are now chronic diseases.

This focus Area is strongly linked to the Dutch National Science Agenda (NWA) as it is at the heart of the NWA route “Regenerative Medicine” (route 2) and strongly connects to the route “Materials” (route 20).