Bas van Rijn

Bas van Rijn is an Associate Professor of Perinatal Health and Technology in the Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology Group at Biomedical Engineering. Van Rijn also works as a Gynecologist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the Maxima Medical Center. His research focuses on understanding the complex interplay between health during pregnancy and the adaptations required for safe development of the fetus, with a special emphasis on health of the placenta and its interaction with the vascular and immune system at the maternal-fetal interface. With his group at TU/e Dr van Rijn is developing models using human placental organoids and stem cell technology to engineer living cell models for an artificial placenta platform. These models pave the way for developing improved diagnostics and treatment strategies for diseases such as fetal growth restriction, preterm birth and preeclampsia. In addition, Van Rijn is involved in initiatives to facilitate technology-driven healthcare by implementing value-based smart solutions for current perinatal health care pathways. He has been leading and participating in several national and international clinical and research programs, focusing on bridging the gap between perinatal medicine, women’s health and engineering.  

By engineering the building blocks of early placental development at the maternal-fetal interface, we can now better understand the intimate relationship between mother and child during early stages of human development, not only to learn how to improve pregnancy outcome, but also to gain important insights into long-term biology of health and disease