dr.ir. J. Rouwkema (Jeroen)

Jeroen Rouwkema is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomechanical Engineering at the University of Twente. 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 expertise and interests are tissue engineering, vascularization, and the role that biomechanical signals play in these processes. He has published in multiple high-impact journals, including Nature Biotechnology (IF 41.5), Advanced Materials (IF19.0), TRENDS in Biotechnology (4x, IF 12.0), and PNAS (2x, IF 9.7). He has directed approximately € 3 million in research funding.

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) Advanced grant. In 2017 he also received the TERMIS EU Robert Brown Early Career Principal Investigator Award.

Tissue

Tissue Engineering

Scaffolds

Tissue Engineering

Blood Vessels

Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET), Biomechanical Engineering (BW)

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/

Gorgels, T. G. M. F., Vroemen, P. A. M. M., Sinha, R., Rouwkema, J., Moroni, L., de Boer, J., & Webers, C. A. B. (2018). Glaucoma-on-a-chip: An in vitro model for glaucoma drug discovery based on mimicking the mechanical stress of high eye pressure. Acta Ophthalmologica, 96, 19-19. DOI: 10.1111/aos.13736

Seo, J., Shin, J. Y., Leijten, J., Jeon, O., Bal Öztürk, A., Rouwkema, J., ... Khademhosseini, A. (2018). Interconnectable Dynamic Compression Bioreactors for Combinatorial Screening of Cell Mechanobiology in Three Dimensions. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 10(16), 13293-13303. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b17991

Vishwakarma, A., Rouwkema, J., Jones, P. A., & Karp, J. M. (2017). The Need to Study, Mimic, and Target Stem Cell Niches. In A. Vishwakarma, & J. M. Karp (Eds.), Biology and Engineering of Stem Cell Niches (pp. 3-13). Elsevier Inc.. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-802734-9.00001-9

Rana, D., & Rouwkema, J. (2017). Vasculogenic Hydrogel: A Potential Substrate for Growth Factor Localization in Multi-Structural Tissue Engineering. Abstract from The Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering 26th Annual Meeting, 2017, Lunteren, Netherlands.

Stein, F., Trenti, C., Salehi Nik, N., & Rouwkema, J. (2017). Effect of fluid flow on vascular network organization in a multi-structural in vitro model. Poster session presented at The Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering 26th Annual Meeting, 2017, Lunteren, Netherlands.

Trikalitis, V., Salehi Nik, N., & Rouwkema, J. (2017). Blood Vessel Model using Tissue Modules with on-demand Stimuli. Poster session presented at The Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering 26th Annual Meeting, 2017, Lunteren, Netherlands.

Sinha, R., Verdonschot, N. J. J., Koopman, H. F. J. M., & Rouwkema, J. (2017). Tuning Cell and Tissue Development by Combining Multiple Mechanical Signals. Tissue engineering. Part B: Reviews, 23(5), 494-504. DOI: 10.1089/ten.teb.2016.0500

Halfwerk, F. R., Rouwkema, J., Gossen, J., & Grandjean, J. G. (2017). Supercritical carbon dioxide decellularised pericardium: Mechanical and structural characterisation for applications in cardio-thoracic surgery. Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials, 77, 400. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2017.10.002

Hendrikson, W. J., Rouwkema, J., Clementi, F., van Blitterswijk, C., Farè, S., & Moroni, L. (2017). Towards 4D Printed Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering: Exploiting 3D Shape Memory Polymers to Deliver Time-Controlled Stimulus on Cultured Cells. Biofabrication, 9(3), [031001]. DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/aa8114

Kazemzadeh-Narbat, M., Rouwkema, J., Annabi, N., Cheng, H., Ghaderi, M., Cha, B-H., ... Khademhosseini, A. (2017). Engineering Photocrosslinkable Bicomponent Hydrogel Constructs for Creating 3D Vascularized Bone. Advanced healthcare materials, 6(10), [1601122]. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201601122

Hendrikson, W. J., van Blitterswijk, C., Rouwkema, J., & Moroni, L. (2017). The Use of Finite Element Analyses to Design and Fabricate Three-Dimensional Scaffolds for Skeletal Tissue Engineering. Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology, 5, [30]. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2017.00030