Lorenzo MORONI profile

I received my Ph.D. cum laude in 2006 at University of Twente on 3D scaffolds for osteochondral regeneration, for which I was awarded the European doctorate award in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering from the European Society of Biomaterials (ESB). Since 2014 I work at Maastricht University, where I am a founding member of the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine. In 2016, I became full professor in biofabrication for regenerative medicine. From 2019 untill 2024, I was the head of the Complex Tissue Regeneration department and vice-director of MERLN from 2019 till 2022. Since 2022, I am the director of MERLN. In 2014, I received the Jean Leray award from the ESB and an ERC starting grant. In 2016, I also received the Robert Brown Award from TERMIS. In 2017, I was elected as faculty of the Young Academy of Europe and in the top 100 Italian scientists within 4worldwide by the European Institute of Italian Culture. I was elected at the European Young Academy of Science in 2017, and at the European Academy of Science in 2022. I received the Merck Materials Science lecture award in 2023, the mid-term career TERMIS and ISBF awards in 2024. I was also elected in 2024 as Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering as well as Fellow of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

My research group interests aim at developing biofabrication technologies to generate libraries of 3D biological constructs and scaffolds able to control cell fate, with applications spanning from skeletal to vascular, neural, and organ regeneration. In particular, the role of mechanical cues in scaffold design to steer cell fate has come back to the center of our activities as a master regulator for cell differentiation and tissue regeneration. The group also applies biofabrication technologies to develop advanced 3D in vitro human models as potential substitutes of animal studies, with the aim to generate more sensitive and reliable assays to human clinical data. These models are then used to study (patho)physiological mechanisms at the base of targeted diseases as well as new potential advanced therapies for tissue and organ regeneration. Practical applications span from skeletal to cadiac and glands (e.g. thyroid) applications.

https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=vUg_jwYAAAAJ&hl=en