Horst Complex

dr.ir. J. Rouwkema (Jeroen)

Associate Professor
ET-BE-EOST
Horst Complex W106
j.rouwkema@utwente.nl
+31534896497
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Jeroen Rouwkema is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomechanical Engineering at the University of Twente, where he is the PI of the Vascularization Lab. Jeroen received his doctoral degree from the University of Twente under the supervision of prof. Clemens van Blitterswijk. Prior to this, he worked 6 months in the lab of prof. Robert (Bob) Langer at MIT, USA. Between 2014 and 2015 he was also appointed as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Medical School, USA, in the group of Prof. Ali Khademhosseini.

His lab focuses on tuning the local mechanical and chemical micro-environment in order to control tissue development and organization. His main focus in this is cardiac tissue development and the inclusion of vascular structures. Adding a vascular network to an engineered tissue is a promising method to enhance tissue integration and survival after implantation. The engineered vascular network can connect to the vasculature of the patient, resulting in a faster perfusion with blood and therefore a better supply of nutrients and oxygen. The lab consists of three pillars, which each concentrate on a specific aspect to reach the common goal:

  • To develop novel bioengineering technologies, such as 3D bioprinting and growth factor patterning technology, enabling the combination of multiple distinct cellular environments within a single tissue construct.
  • To develop computational models to predict the mechanical and chemical micro-environment due to external deformations and fluid flows, and subsequent models to predict tissue development based on this environment.
  • To develop micro-bioreactor systems to experimentally elucidate the effects of multiple combined mechanical and chemical signals on cell behavior and tissue development.

Jeroen  has received a VENI fellowship from NWO, as well as an International Outgoing Fellowship, which is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions of the European Commission. In 2017 he received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant and in 2019 and in 2021 an ERC Proof of Concept grant. In 2017 he also received the TERMIS EU Robert Brown Early Career Principal Investigator Award.

For more info about Jeroen Rouwkema on the 'Featured Scientists' page, click below:

Expertise

  • Medicine and Dentistry

    • Tissues
    • Cells
    • Vascularity
    • Tissue Engineering
    • Vascular Network

  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

    • Vascularization
    • Growth Factor
    • Aptamer

Organisations

Dr. Rouwkema focuses on tuning the local mechanical and chemical micro-environment in order to control development and organization of vascularized engineered tissues. Adding a vascular network to an engineered tissue is a promising method to enhance tissue integration and survival after implantation. The engineered vascular network can connect to the vasculature of the patient, resulting in a faster perfusion with blood and therefore a better supply of nutrients and oxygen.

For more information see the following website: http://www.vascularizationlab.com/ 

Publications

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023

2025

Magnetic Nozzle‐Free Embedded 3D (MagNoFE3D) Printing (2025)Advanced Materials Technologies, 10(5). Article 2401097. Piñan Basualdo, F. N., Trikalitis, V. D., Visconti, S., Ficuciello, F., Goulas, C., Rouwkema, J. & Misra, S.https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202401097Effect of fluid flow-induced shear stress on the behavior of synovial fibroblasts in a bioinspired synovium-on-chip model (2025)Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation. Article 100233 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Piluso, S., Li, Y., Texeira, L. M., Padmanaban, P., Rouwkema, J., Leijten, J., van Weeren, R., Karperien, M. & Malda, J.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjp.2025.100233Bioprinting of Aptamer-Based Programmable Bioinks to Modulate Multiscale Microvascular Morphogenesis in 4D (2025)Advanced healthcare materials, 14(1). Article 2402302. Rana, D., Rangel, V. R., Padmanaban, P., Trikalitis, V. D., Kandar, A., Kim, H. W. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202402302Orchestrating vascular hierarchy: Modulating fluid flows within chick chorioallantoic membrane (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Padmanaban, P.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036564267

2024

Spatiotemporally programmed release of aptamer tethered dual angiogenic growth factors (2024)International journal of biological macromolecules, 283(Part 1). Article 137632. Rana, D. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.137632Tissue Bioprinting: A granular approach (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Trikalitis, V. D.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036562317Toward a disruptive, minimally invasive small finger joint implant concept: Cellular and molecular interactions with materials in vivo (2024)Acta biomaterialia, 183, 130-145. Ben Amara, H., Farjam, P., Lutz, T. M., Omar, O., Palmquist, A., Lieleg, O., Browne, M., Taylor, A., Verkerke, G. J., Rouwkema, J. & Thomsen, P.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2024.05.042Switching to external flows: Perturbations of developing vasculature within chicken chorioallantoic membrane (2024)Lab on a chip, 24, 3233-3242. Padmanaban, P., Galen, D. v., Salehi-Nik, N., Zakharova, M., Segerink, L. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1039/D4LC00311JEmbedded Printing of Hydrogels and Watery Suspensions of Cells in Patterned Granular Baths (2024)Tissue engineering. Part C: Methods, 30(5), 206-216. Trikalitis, V. D., Paizal, J. P., Rangel, V., Stein, F. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tec.2024.0015TO FIX OR NOT TO FIX!?: Strategies and tools to place and fixate a flexible joint implant (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Farjam, P.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036560481Switching to external flows: perturbations of developing vasculature within chicken chorioallantoic membrane (2024)[Working paper › Preprint]. bioRxiv. Padmanaban, P., Galen, D. v., Salehi-Nik, N., Zakharova, M., Segerink, L. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.11.575208

2023

Bioactive calcium phosphate coatings applied to flexible poly(carbonate urethane) foils (2023)Surface and coatings technology, 470. Article 129838. Farjam, P., Luckabauer, M., Vries, E. G. d., Rangel, V. R., Hekman, E. E. G., Verkerke, G. J. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2023.129838Design of an articulating non-invasive joint distractor for metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb (2023)In Proceedings of the 2023 Design of Medical Devices Conference. Article v001t10a004 (Frontiers in Biomedical Devices (BIOMED)). ASME Digital Collection. Farjam, P., Roubos, T. J., Rouwkema, J., Hekman, E. E. G. & Verkerke, G. J.https://doi.org/10.1115/DMD2023-4967Spatial control of self-organizing vascular networks with programmable aptamer-tethered growth factor photopatterning (2023)Materials Today Bio, 19. Article 100551. Rana, D., Padmanaban, P., Becker, M., Stein, F., Leijten, J., Koopman, B. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100551Embedded 3D printing of dilute particle suspensions into dense complex tissue fibers using shear thinning xanthan baths (2023)Biofabrication, 15(1). Article 015014. Trikalitis, V. D., Kroese, N. J. J., Kaya, M., Cofino Fabres, C., ten Den, S. A., S.M. Khalil, I., Misra, S., Koopman, B. F. J. M., Passier, R., Schwach, V. & Rouwkema, J.https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/aca124

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University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room W106
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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