PhD Position: mRNA-Enhanced Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration

PhD Position - Engineering the Future of Bone Regeneration: mRNA-Enhanced Biomaterials for Next-Generation Skeletal Repair

• Our goal: To develop next-generation biomaterials that actively stimulate bone regeneration by delivering molecular instructions directly to cells through messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
• Your colleagues: You will work in a unique dual academic-industry environment, collaborating with researchers and professionals from a Dutch biotech company and the MERLN Institute at Maastricht University.

What if you could teach a biomaterial to heal bone by delivering the molecular instructions directly to cells? This PhD project explores exactly that question. You will work at the intersection of material science and molecular biology to develop a clinically relevant, market-available biomaterial for bone regeneration enhanced with mRNA therapy encoding osteogenic growth factors.

This project represents translational science at its most exciting: building on a product with real clinical potential and advancing it further using cutting-edge RNA biology.

The PhD project is embedded in a dual academic-industry setting:

• A leading company in regenerative biomaterials, in the middle of the Netherlands (40%)
• The cBITE department of the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine at Maastricht University (40%)
• Additional collaborative sites involved in the project (20%)

This structure allows you to gain experience in both academic and industrial research environments while building a strong professional network across translational life sciences and biotechnology.

What you do
Your research will focus on developing biomaterial-based systems that deliver mRNA to stimulate bone regeneration.
Bone defects resulting from trauma, tumour resection, or degenerative disease represent a major clinical challenge. While autologous bone grafts remain the gold standard, they are limited by donor site morbidity and availability. Synthetic biomaterials offer a promising alternative, but robust bone regeneration requires more than a structural scaffold.

This project builds on a clinically available biomaterial platform developed by the industrial partner and introduces an innovative dimension: mRNA-based delivery of osteogenic growth factors, such as bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Compared to protein-based approaches, mRNA therapy enables transient, tunable, and safe expression of regenerative signals exactly where and when they are needed.

In this role you will:

• Perform physicochemical characterisation and optimisation of biomaterials, including surface modification and mRNA binding strategies
• Design and evaluate mRNA loading strategies and release kinetics under physiologically relevant conditions
• Conduct in vitro biological validation using primary human cells such as osteoblasts and mesenchymal stromal cells
• Develop advanced 3D culture models, including biomaterial scaffolds and co-culture systems
• Perform preclinical in vivo studies to evaluate bone regeneration efficacy and safety in established models
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary partners including chemists, molecular biologists, clinicians, and regulatory experts
• Disseminate research findings through scientific publications and presentations at international conferences

The project spans molecular engineering, advanced cell culture models, and preclinical validation generating the type of comprehensive dataset that supports regulatory and clinical translation.

PhD Candidate in Computational Cardiology

Are you passionate about bridging computational modeling with clinical cardiology to solve real-world healthcare challenges? We're seeking a PhD candidate to develop innovative Digital Twin technology that will help clinicians make critical treatment decisions for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

PhD Candidate in Computational Cardiology

• Our goal: The Challenge You'll Tackle
  Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) affects millions worldwide yet remains one of cardiology's most stubborn puzzles. Many patients have no symptoms at rest but struggle during exercise, the underlying disease mechanisms are poorly understood, key diagnostic measurements require invasive procedures, and treatment options remain limited. In this project, you'll extend our Digital Twin technology to unravel these mechanisms, non-invasively estimate diagnostic indices that today require a catheter, and virtually test treatment strategies.
• Your colleagues: A Unique Dual-University Experience
  You'll be based at Maastricht University's Computational Cardiology group within the Department of Biomedical Engineering - the team behind the CircAdapt framework, one of the leading tools for personalized cardiac simulation worldwide. You'll work closely with a multidisciplinary group of PhD candidates, postdocs, and professors, and collaborate with clinical partners at University Medical Center Utrecht who will provide the real-world patient data your models will be built on and validated against.

Your Mission
You'll develop patient-specific computational models - "Digital Twins" - that simulate how individual hearts respond to different treatments.
Working at the intersection of biomedical engineering, computational modeling, and clinical cardiology, you'll:

• Extend the internationally recognized CircAdapt cardiovascular modeling platform to accurately simulate the complex and diverse disease substrates in the HFpEF spectrum in rest and in exercise.
• Develop and improve state-of-the-art personalization algorithms to include multimodal clinical data into the Digital Twin.
• Create personalized simulations that predict key hemodynamic indices otherwise invasively obtained.
• Validate your Digital Twin predictions against real-world measurements from clinical registries obtained from University Medical Center Utrecht.

Your Impact
Your work will directly address an urgent clinical need, potentially transforming how thousands of heart failure patients are treated. By creating a validated framework for generating Digital Twins, you'll help clinicians to better understand the HFpEF phenotypes, non-invasively estimate important hemodynamic indices, and investigate which therapy is the optimal strategy for each phenotype.

Join Us in Shaping the Future of Cardiac Care
This PhD position offers more than just research training – it's an opportunity to develop technology that will directly improve patient lives.

If you're ready to tackle complex clinical challenges through innovative computational approaches and want your research to make a real difference in healthcare, we want to hear from you.

Requirements
Success in this project will rely on collaboration and perseverance, uniting biomedical engineering, cardiovascular physiology, and clinical cardiology.
You should have:

• Master's degree in (Biomedical/Mechanical) Engineering, Technical Medicine, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or related field.
• Strong interest in cardiovascular physiology and computational modeling.
• Programming experience (preferably Python, or similar).
• Enthusiasm for interdisciplinary collaboration and clinical translation.
• Excellent communication skills for working across technical and medical domains.

Prior experience with cardiovascular modeling, medical imaging analysis, or clinical research is advantageous but not required – we value curiosity and dedication to learning above all.

PhD Researcher in Modular Biomaterials for Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering

PhD Researcher in Modular Biomaterials for Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering

Our goal: To develop smart, instructive biomaterials that actively interact with the body and guide the regeneration of bone and bone–soft tissue interfaces, particularly under challenging biological conditions such as chronic inflammation, diabetes or ageing.

Your colleagues: You will join an interdisciplinary team within the Instructive Biomaterials Engineering and Complex Tissue Regeneration groups at MERLN, supervised by Prof. Sabine van Rijt and Dr. Niloofar Tahmasebi Birgani, and collaborate with researchers across the national DRIVE-RM consortium.

As a PhD Researcher in Modular Biomaterials for Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering, you will design dynamic biomaterial systems that can direct cell behaviour and support tissue regeneration. Your work focuses on dynamically crosslinked hydrogels that form mechanically tunable and self-healing networks. These materials will be engineered into microparticles with defined chemistry, shape and mechanics, which function as modular building blocks for bottom-up tissue engineering.

By assembling these microgels into granular hydrogels or combining them with cells, you will create miniaturized tissue constructs that mimic the complexity of bone and bone-soft tissue interfaces. Within these systems, you will investigate how biomaterials influence immune responses, vascularization, and stem cell behaviour, including migration, proliferation, and differentiation.

Your work is part of the DRIVE-RM Summit Program funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This interdisciplinary programme connects biomaterials science, microfabrication, immunobiology, regenerative medicine, and in vitro disease modelling. Within this environment, you will develop advanced biomaterials and contribute to innovative regenerative strategies.

If you are a Master graduate with interest in biomaterial design and fabrication, and regenerative medicine who aspires to be at the forefront of scientific innovation, we invite you to apply. Within this project, you will mainly focus on:

• Design dynamic hydrogel-based microscale biomaterials
  You develop hydrogel-based microparticles with tunable chemistry, architecture and mechanical properties that mimic features of the extracellular matrix. These materials will serve as modular building blocks for bone and bone–soft tissue regeneration.
• Engineer modular bone and interface tissues
  You integrate biomaterials with relevant cell types using advanced 3D biofabrication techniques to build miniaturized bone tissues and bone–soft tissue interfaces with graded and anisotropic structures.
• Evaluate biological and mechanical performance
  You establish in vitro platforms to analyse immune modulation, vascularization and stem cell differentiation, and benchmark engineered tissues against native tissue structures.
• Collaborate in an interdisciplinary consortium
  You work closely with researchers at the MERLN Institute and collaborate with partners across leading Dutch universities within the DRIVE-RM programme.
• Share your research
  You publish your results in international scientific journals and present your work at conferences, contributing to the visibility and impact of the project.

Will you join us in advancing the future of regenerative medicine? Then we would love to meet you.

What you bring
It’s not about ticking boxes — it’s about who you are and what you bring. Do you recognize yourself in the profile below?

• You hold a Master’s degree in biomedical engineering, chemistry, biomedical sciences, materials science, or a related field.
• You have a strong interest in biomaterials, tissue engineering, or regenerative medicine.
• You have an excellent academic track record and a solid understanding of materials–biology interactions.
• You have hands-on laboratory experience in biomaterials synthesis, processing or physicochemical characterization.
• Experience with cell culture, 3D models or biological evaluation of biomaterials is an advantage.
• You enjoy working in an interdisciplinary and collaborative research environment and take initiative in your work.
• You communicate clearly in English, both written and spoken. Experience with scientific writing or publications is a plus.

Content Creator - Studio Europa Maastricht & Brussels Hub

Communicatiemedewerker – Studio Europa Maastricht & Brussels Hub

Ons doel: De zichtbaarheid en impact van Studio Europa Maastricht en de Brussels Hub vergroten binnen én buiten de Euregio.

Jouw collega’s: Je werkt in een hecht, internationaal georiënteerd communicatieteam binnen het International Office.

Wat jij doet
Vier dagen per week werk je voor Studio Europa Maastricht. Je bouwt mee aan de groeiende zichtbaarheid van dit expertisecentrum op het gebied van Europees debat, onderzoek en beleid. Je:

• vertaalt activiteiten en thema’s naar aansprekende content voor verschillende doelgroepen;
• produceert zelf content of werkt hiervoor samen met freelance ontwerpers;
• schrijft teksten voor social media, blogs en webpagina’s (WordPress);
• denkt mee over nieuwe formats zoals video’s, scrollverhalen, infographics en andere visuele middelen.

Daarnaast werk je één dag per week voor de Brussels Hub. Je:

• vertaalt ontwikkelingen en netwerken in Brussel naar relevante content voor social media;
• houdt Drupal‑pagina’s actueel en werkt mee aan doorontwikkeling van online zichtbaarheid;
• ondersteunt communicatie rondom activiteiten, evenementen en netwerken van de Hub.

Zorg jij voor inspirerende en verbindende content? Dan ontmoeten we je graag.

Wat jij meebrengt
Het gaat ons niet om vinkjes, maar om wie jij bent en wat jij meebrengt. Herken jij jezelf hierin?

• Creatief en nieuwsgierig – Je volgt social‑mediatrends op de voet en vertaalt ideeën naar nieuwe contentvormen.
• Sterk in taal – Je schrijft helder en aantrekkelijk in Nederlands en Engels.
• Oog voor beeld – Je herkent visueel sterke content en weet hoe je vormgevers aanstuurt.
• Digitale vaardigheid – Je hebt ervaring met WordPress, Drupal en digitale productie.
• Teamgericht – Je werkt soepel samen binnen een dynamische, internationale context.
• Europese sensitiviteit – Je voelt je thuis in een omgeving waar Europese thema’s centraal staan.
• Professioneel en proactief – Je neemt verantwoordelijkheid en durft initiatief te nemen.

Promovendus Integraal werken aan gezonde leefstijl in het Voortgezet Onderwijs

Promovendus Integraal werken aan gezonde leefstijl in het Voortgezet Onderwijs

Ons doel: In dit onderzoeksproject werken VO-scholen in drie Limburgse regio’s integraal aan voeding, beweging en mentaal welbevinden. Effectieve elementen uit drie bestaande interventies worden op maat ingezet. Samen met de VO-scholen onderzoeken we hoe deze aanpak kan worden opgezet, uitgevoerd en opgeschaald. Het project kent drie fases: (1) voorbereiding en inventarisatie huidige aanpak en adaptatie interventies, (2) uitvoering en monitoring implementatie integrale aanpak, en (3) borging en ontwikkeling van praktische tools voor opschaling naar andere VO-scholen. Methoden zijn observaties, vragenlijsten en interviews.

Jouw collega’s: Je gaat werken bij de Vakgroep Gezondheidsbevordering van de Universiteit Maastricht, waar onderzoekers en docenten samenwerken aan gezondheidsbevordering. We hebben aandacht voor zowel gezonde als zieke mensen en hun leefomgeving. Daarnaast werk je in een consortium met onderwijs-, praktijk-, beleids- en onderzoekspartners op landelijk en regionaal niveau.