Projects
Towards Mimicking the Foetal Liver Niche: Engineering 3D Hydrogel Systems for in-vitro Culture of Hematopoietic Stem Cells KU Leuven
Within my PhD, I will be working on the development of 3D culture systems for the in-vitro culture of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs), which are a small population of stem cells giving rise to all blood cells during the lifespan of the organism. These 3D culture system will be designed to mimics key biophysical and biological features of the fetal liver (FL) niche, the home place of these stem cells during mammalian development. ...
Controlled spatial patterning of ligand presentation within hydrogels. KU Leuven
State of the art
Natively, cells reside in a complex microenvironment, called the extracellular matrix (ECM), where they receive numerous signals (chemical, mechanical, biological) that allow them to maintain proper function; however, cells can be damaged and these interactions disrupted as a result of injury or disease. To address this problem, tissue engineering is developing as an emerging field with the ambitious aim to ...
The Genetic Component to Infertility and Early Developmental Failure Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The development of imaging-based bioprinting techniques for full tooth and bone regeneration in the dentoalveolar region KU Leuven
Nanomaterial-based Tissue Engineering Scaffolds KU Leuven
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained interest in bone tissue engineering (BTE) to provide scaffolds with mechanical strength and to promote adhesion and proliferation of cells as they can mimic the fibrillar extracellular matrix (ECM) morphology. These properties are necessary inorder to promote bone healing of critical size defects or to reduce interface problems with implants. However, the needle-like shape of nanotubes can rupture cell ...
Dry Run Vaccinopolis. University of Antwerp
An advanced facility for assessing the impact of particulate matter (PM) mitigation strategies and technologies. University of Antwerp
Synthesis and evaluation of phosphine functionalized hyperbranched structures as platform for sustainable metal catalyzed reactions KU Leuven
Nature has inspired scientists to push the boundaries of science. Branched macromolecular structures resemble branching found in nature from the nano to macro-scale (e.g. from veins to trees). The focal point of this thesis is a hyperbranched poly(arylene oxindole) (HBPAO) three-dimensional structure. HBPAOs have a globular, dendritic architecture with abundant functional groups, intramolecular cavities, tunable solubility and are facilely ...