Funding
Schurgers Lab is supported by various grants and funding programs that enable us to pursue groundbreaking research in cardiovascular health and vascular calcification. These subsidies play a vital role in driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and advancing scientific discovery.
We are proud to collaborate with national and international funding agencies, industry partners, and academic institutions to secure resources for our projects. This support allows us to explore new therapeutic strategies, develop cutting-edge technologies, and contribute to the global effort to improve healthcare outcomes.
SFB 1739 – DFG
The DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1739 at RWTH Aachen investigates how systemic diseases affect periodontal tissue remodeling. Through the collaboration between Maastricht University and RWTH Aachen, Leon Schurgers contributes expertise in cardiovascular biology and patient-specific stem cell models to study the interaction between systemic disease and periodontal regeneration.
LipidBRIGHT – MSCA Doctoral Network
LipidBRIGHT is an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network coordinated by Maastricht University and led by Dr. Heidi Noels. The project brings together scientists, clinicians, companies and stakeholder organisations to connect lipid research across disease areas. By combining clinical, biomedical, technological and data science expertise, the network aims to improve disease prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.
PhD student: Tereza Mullerova.
Contributing partners: Maastricht University (NL), KU Leuven (BE), Hasselt University (BE), University Hospital Jena (DE), INSERM (FR), Utrecht University (NL), SciCross (SE), RD–Néphrologie SAS (FR), and the University of Bern (CH).
Project period: 1 March 2026 – 28 February 2030.
LipidBRIGHT project information on CORDIS
HFL – Genetic Approach to Aortic Aneurysm
PhD student: Nora Noll.
The research project 'Genetic Approach to Aortic Aneurysm' has been awarded the Health Foundation Limburg (HFL) PhD Grant. In this study, vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, biochemistry, and clinical genetics are working together on new patient-centered solutions. The project focusses on patients with hereditary connective tissue disorders, such as Marfan syndrome, who are at high risk of life-threatening aortic complications from a young age. Currently, no medication exists to prevent these complications, leaving patients reliant on risky surgeries. To change this, researchers are growing a ‘mini-aorta’ in the lab using stem cells derived from the patient’s own blood. These are transformed into vascular cells and used to recreate a small piece of the aortic wall. This enables scientists to study how the disease progresses on a personal level and test targeted treatments. The lab-grown tissue also offers a platform to explore promising therapies, from drugs that may slow aneurysm growth to CRISPR gene editing techniques that could correct the underlying DNA mutation. If results are positive, these therapies could move into clinical trials, opening the door to safer, more personalised care.
CARTA – Health~Holland / Netherlands Heart Institute
Postdoctoral researcher: Pepijn Saraber.
CARTA is funded through a public-private partnership supported by Health~Holland and the Netherlands Heart Institute.
Virtual Biopsy Predicts Function of Cardiac and Vascular Muscle Cells - conditions affecting the aorta and the heart are frequently associated with impaired functioning of muscle cells. This dysfunction can stem from genetic mutations, which in some families affect multiple members and may even result in death. Current diagnostic and prognostic approaches are based on averages derived from large patient cohorts, which often renders predictions insufficiently precise. This project develops a patient-specific platform: the "virtual biopsy." From a single blood sample, researchers can generate stem cell-derived cardiac and vascular smooth muscle cells and engineer them into miniature cardiac and vascular tissue constructs (engineered heart tissue [EHT] and engineered vascular tissue [EVT]). This enables highly detailed measurements of force, electrical signals, and mechanical load to be obtained within three months. The ultimate objectives are early disease detection, more individualized risk profiling, and improved treatment selection. The platform is intended to complement existing clinical data, including imaging findings and genetic information.
WISER – EUREKA Eurostars / RVO
PhD student: Jop van Dorp.
The project ‘WISER’ (Development of a first-in-class therapeutic combatting vascular pathology in Williams-Beuren Syndrome via Elastic fiber Restoration) is funded through the EUREKA Eurostars programme from RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland). The WISER project aims to advance the development of ElastoCure as a first-in-class therapeutic combatting vascular pathology in Williams-Beuren Syndrome via Elastic fiber Restoration. In Maastricht, we will develop complex 2D and 3D in vitro models of human vasculature using patient-derived stem cells, to be use for upscaled testing of ElastoCure drug candidates. Eventually, ElastoCure will be an innovative elastin-modulating therapy with significant pipeline potential for a broad range of elastin deficiency-related diseases. The WISER consortium brings together expertise from Elastin Biosciences Ltd (UK), University of Luxembourg, ReGEN Biomedical and the department of Biochemistry, Maastricht University.
Leducq – PRIORITY
Researchers: Leon Schurgers and Rogier Veltrop.
The Leducq Foundation-funded PRIORITY network started in January 2025.
LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA-DCM) is a severe and inherited disease caused by mutations in the LMNA gene. This gene provides instructions for making proteins called A-type Lamins (Lamins A/C), which help maintain the structure of the cell nucleus and play an important role in regulating chromatin organization, gene expression, and cytoskeletal organization by interacting with numerous other proteins. There is no effective treatment for LMNA-DCM because we do not fully understand the disease’s underlying mechanisms. Therefore, the proposed PRIORITY (cardio-laminoPathy: fRom pathomechanIsms tO peRsonalIzed TherapY) network aims to fill this knowledge gap and develop personalized, disease-modifying therapies.
Our team comprises internationally renowned experts from prestigious European institutions (Sorbonne Université-Inserm, Amsterdam University, Maastricht University, University of Zurich, Paris-Cité University) and the USA (Duke, Cornell, and Stanford), along with early career investigators. We will partner with LMNAcardiac.org, a patient-led foundation, to ensure a patient-centered approach and to address the needs of those affected by LMNA-DCM. International collaborations and exchanges will offer unique interdisciplinary training opportunities for early career scientists in the network.
More about the PRIORITY network