HybridHeart brings together a range of disciplines, including cardiac surgeons, materials experts, robotic engineers, cell biologists, mechanical engineers, physicists, and software specialist. each partner is a leading specialist in its respective field.
in Europe
at several locations
Dr. Kluin, the coordinator of the HybridHyeart project, is a young, ambitious and very talented congenital cardiac surgeon and associatied professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery. She combines cardiac surgery with (basic) research. Her research line Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine is very successful and has been awarded with multiple grants. She has been invited on Dutch television to talk about this topic several times and has been interviewed for multiple Dutch dr. Kluin followed her medical training at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she received her MD degree (cum laude) in 1996. She then received her PhD degree in General Surgery in 1999, and completed her training for Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2005, both at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
From 2006-2014 Dr. Kluin worked as Staff surgeon in the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Since 2015, she is Staff Congenital cardiothoracic surgeon at the department off Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) Amsterdam. At the AMC, she furthermore holds the position of Associate Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery since 2014, and she has been Principal Investigator since 2015. Here, she is currently responsible for the supervision of 10 PhD students. Her research lines involve Heart Valve tissue engineering/heart valve biology, surgical treatment in pediatric and GUCH (grown-ups with congenital heart disease) patients, Reconstructive valve surgery, and Heart and lung transplantation.
Dr. Kluin is furthermore an active member of various professional organizations including the Adult Domain of the European Association of CardioThoracic Surgery (EACTS), HVS (Heart valve society), NVT (Dutch Society of Thoracic Surgery), ESC (European Society of Cardiology) and ISHLT (International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation).
Dr. Johannes T. B. Overvelde is a young and talented group leader in the Soft Robotic Matter Group at AMOLF. In 2010 Dr. Overvelde graduated from Delft University of Technology, where he obtained his MSc degree in Solid and Fluid Mechanics (cum laude). He proceeded at Harvard University, where he obtained his MSc degree in Applied Mathematics in 2013, and next his PhD degree in Applied Mathematics in 2016. During his academic career he has published papers in high-impact peer-reviewed papers, a number of which have been extensively covered in newspapers and other non-specialist media. His field of interest is computational research, especially concerning numerical simulations, solid and fluid mechanics, materials science and mathematical optimization. The aforementioned fields of interest find exciting applications in biomedical engineering and soft robotics.
Previous research of Dr. Overvelde focused on the design of non-linear structures and devices that exhibit a nontrivial relation between input and output (i.e. loading and response). This included exploration of analytical, computational and relatively simple experimental techniques that allowed to effectively explore the design space, and that led to an understanding of the relation between shape and function in compliant systems. More specifically, research topics included 1) the effect of the shape and boundary conditions in periodic porous structures, 2) development of a new type of soft inflatable actuators that harnesses snap-through instabilities to achieve instantaneous changes in length, force and pressure, and 3) design of a strategy that enables the construction of mechanical metamaterials for which the volume and shape can be dramatically reconfigured. Altogether, these proposed techniques and case-studies can inform simplified routes for the design of tuneable mechanical metamaterials and soft devices over a wide range of length scales.
Dr. Matteo Cianchetti is a highly promising young scientist and currently Assistant Professor at The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA). He received the MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering (cum laude) from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and the PhD degree in Biorobotics (cum laude) from SSSA. He is author or co-author of more than 40 international peer reviewed papers and he regularly serves as a reviewer for more than 10 international ISI journals. He has been and currently is involved in several EU- funded projects with the main focus on the development of Soft Robotics technologies (including flexible fluidic actuators, granular jamming based systems, electro-active polymers and shape memory alloys). His main research interests include the study and development of new systems and technologies based on soft/flexible materials for soft actuators, smart compliant sensors and flexible mechanisms.
Dr. Andreas Henseler studied Electrical Engineering at the RWTH Aachen and received his diploma with a presentation of a new device to control a heart lung machine. During his scientific career at the Institute of Physiology at RWTH Aachen he did extensive research on the dynamic mechanism of oxygen transfer to and from the erythrocytes. In this field he obtained his PhD degree at the faculty of Mechanical Engineering. During his business career Dr. Andreas Henseler has successfully attained the development and regulatory approval for several medical devices class II and class III in the field of cardiac and vascular surgery including vascular grafts and blood pumps. As a founder and General Manager of ReinVAD GmbH he was responsible for the technical development of an Artificial Heart. He also has the leadership for Regulatory Affaires and Quality Management to ensure a successful design control that meets the regulatory requirements. As the managing director of the EVOS GmbH he in general is responsible for Business and Project Planning as well as team leadership. Based on his industrial experience he is active as a mentor for start-up teams to help them managing the hurdles during the development of medical devices and to consult with an interdisciplinary network.
Dr. Martijn Cox has significant experience in endogenous tissue restoration (ETR) in the cardiovascular system. Cox has been one of the key contributors to the development of Xeltis’ technology. Prior to Xeltis, Cox co-founded and led QTIS/e, a startup spun off from Eindhoven University of Technology, until its merger with Xeltis. With QTIS/e he secured several million Euros of public funding and participated with preeminent industrial and academic partners to numerous national and international research projects on cardiovascular tissue engineering and ETR. Cox holds a PhD in cardiovascular tissue engineering and a Master in Business Innovation from the TiasNimbas business school.
Prof. Carlijn Bouten is a professor of Cell-Matrix Interactions at the department of Biomedical Engineering of the TU/e. She was trained in functional anatomy and biomechanics as well as exercise physiology at the department of Human Movement Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam (MSc 1991) and obtained her PhD degree in 1995 from the TU/e. She next performed postdoctoral research at the Université Laval (Quebec, Canada), the University of London, as well as the TU/e. In 1998 she became assistant professor in Cellular Biomechanics at the department of Mechanical Engineering of the TU/e. In 2002 she became associate professor of Tissue Engineering at the department of Biomedical Engineering of the TU/e.
The current research led by Prof. Bouten focusses on cell-matrix interactions in cardiovascular tissues, with special emphasis on regulation of growth, differentiation, adaptation and remodelling. She uses ‘living’ model systems at different length scales (cell, cell-matrix, engineered tissue, native tissue) to quantify these aspects, preferably in real-time. In 2002 she was awarded by the NWO-Aspasia program, and in 2003 she received an NWO-VICI grant for her research on skeletal muscle and heart valve tissue engineering, respectively. From 2005- 2010 she was a member of ‘The Young Academy’ of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Prof. dr. dr. Patricia Y.W. Dankers studied Chemistry at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. In 2002 she started her first PhD at the TU/e under supervision of Prof. Dr. E.W. Meijer, where she investigated supramolecular biomaterials by introducing a modular approach. In her second PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Groningen, she worked on renal regenerative medicine in the group of Prof. Dr. M.J.A. van Luyn (2013). Furthermore, she worked for the company SupraPolix in Eindhoven. In 2010 she moved to Chicago USA, where she performed research at the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University, in the group of Prof. Dr. S.I. Stupp. Currently, she is a full professor in Biomedical Materials in the Laboratory of Chemical Biology in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) department and in the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, at TU/e.
She is a Veni and Vidi laureate (2008 and 2017, respectively), and has received an ERC starting grant in 2012. She has been awarded various (EU) grants and awards, including the DSM Science & Technology award and the Pauline van Wachem award for the best thesis in biomaterials research and tissue engineering. She was a member of the Dutch Health Council (2011-2013), and is a member and since 2016 a board member of the Jonge Akademie of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her particular research interests are on the design and synthesis of functional, supramolecular biomaterials. Her main goal is to translate these supramolecular biomaterials to applications in the field of regenerative medicine. Her group closely collaborates with research groups within the BME department (including Prof. Dr. C.V.C. Bouten and Prof. Dr. E.W. Meijer), and with research groups in cardiology and nephrology at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute. She acquired grants from ZonMw and CVON in the cardiovascular regenerative medicine field, to strengthen her research with the collaborators mentioned.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 767195