Personal Summary

Currently I am a PhD-Candidate shared between the schurgers lab, the group of Dr. K. Reesink (Biomedical Engineering, UM) and the group of Dr. E. Bidar (Cardiothoracic Surgery, MUMC+). Within these groups I work on building an aortic biobank by collecting samples from aortic aneurysm- and undiluted “healthy control” patients. Additionally, I work on the generation of hiPSC and differentiation towards various embryologically relevant vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) subtypes in the StemCell Research facility Maastricht (SCRUM).

What is your research about?

My research focusses on unraveling the underlaying mechanism of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm (TAA) with a specific focus on using hiPSC-derived vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Hereby, we aim to better understand which patients are at risk of severe aortic events such as a type-A dissection.

Contact

If you would like to know more about my research or would like to get in contact with me, please do so by sending an email to pepijn.saraber@maastrichtuniversity.nl or p.saraber@mumc.nl.