Deadline: Open until filled

Are you fascinated by scientific and technological innovations in cartilage tissue engineering and regeneration? Are you eager to push frontiers at the interface of (micro-)engineering, mechanics, and cartilage biology, using interdisciplinary approaches? Then you might be the next PhD candidate!

Functional regeneration of articular cartilage in the joints is one of the holy grails of modern medicine. Damage and degeneration of this bone-lining tissue affects hundreds of millions worldwide, causing pain, disability, and a massive socioeconomic burden. In recent years, developmentally inspired tissue engineering (TE) approaches, relying on the assembly of self-organizing microtissue-based building blocks into larger constructs, have emerged as promising avenues for cartilage TE. However, current methods still lack coherent fusion and matrix remodeling of the individual building blocks. To unlock their full potential, a deeper understanding is needed of how microtissues self-organize, fuse, and remodel as they grow. As a PhD candidate, you will uncover new mechanobiological insights into these processes, which will contribute to improving cartilage regeneration strategies.

This PhD project will center around developing a novel experimental platform to investigate how mechanical confinement regulates growth and structural organization in cartilage microtissues, and how this could be harnessed in regenerative therapies. By combining stem cell culture with microengineered in vitro platforms and state-of-the-art characterization and analysis, you will uncover new insights into the parameters governing structural anisotropy in cartilage building blocks. Additionally, you will explore and define optimal routes to guide microtissue fusion into coherent and mechanically competent macroscale constructs. Your multidisciplinary work will mainly take place in our experimental labs (biomaterials fabrication, cell culture, microscopy, micromechanical characterization, mechanobiology, etc.), but may also involve a computational dimension (simulation, quantitative analysis) depending on the specific research question and capabilities of the PhD candidate.

As a PhD candidate, you will become an integral part of a dynamic and multidisciplinary environment of engineers, biologists, and clinicians across seniority levels, driving innovation in regenerative medicine. An educational and professional development program will be offered to you, and you will contribute to teaching activities and supervision of BSc and MSc students. You will be expected to present your PhD research at (inter-)national scientific conferences, publish in scientific journals, and complete a doctoral dissertation. Learn more and apply here