Are you fascinated by regenerative medicine and 3d printing? Are you eager to work in multidisciplinary environment with material scientists, mechanical engineers and biologists?
We seek to hire a PhD to develop innovative 3D printing technologies that will allow the fabrication of high-performance biomaterials for regenerative medicine.

Regenerative medicine (RM) holds great promise to treat a number of chronic diseases. One of the RM strategies, consists on applying biomaterial implants that can catalyse the regenerative power of a person's own body. Unfortunately, despite almost two decades of intensive research, fabrication of biomaterial implants that could reinforce (and eventually drive) diseased tissue and organs regeneration capacity remains a challenge.

It has become clear that 3D printing technologies can play a decisive role in the fabrication of biomaterial implants for RM. 3D printing encompasses a large toolbox of different fabrication strategies being the most well established classified as droplet, extrusion, laser- and light- assisted printing. Each of these strategies have different working principles which have their own associated merits and drawbacks with regards to resolution and material selection. Up to now, engineers have been mostly restricted to adopting a single printing strategy based on the target biological structure. What was observed, however, was the fabrication of predominantly homogeneous materials that do not get close to the heterogenous composition and hierarchical structure observed in biological materials. A recent body of literature points out that the simultaneous use of complementary 3D printing processes could allow the strategic arrangement of multiple material compositions at different length scales. Furthermore, in a decade of exponential growth of information technologies, it is expected that numerical technologies and digital design will play a key role in developing high performance biomaterial implants.  For example, machine learning approaches can be used to identify new material designs and correlate material printing accuracy to print parameters; while integrated computer models of biosystems and numerical optimisation techniques could be the key for fast and reliable manufacturing of functional biomaterials.

In this project you will develop design and processing tools that move away from the conventional biomaterial science paradigm (that links structure-process-property) towards a more complex 'printomics' approach that breaks materials into its building blocks; describe function based on interplay of building blocks and builds their form using advanced 3D printing processes. You will contribute to a junior multi-disciplinary team of materials scientists, mechanical engineers and biologists. Together we will strive to understand how function (and failure) in both mechanical and degradation contexts of a biomaterials system can be optimized by linking design with 3D printing; and how to develop 3D printing processes that can achieve the multimaterial combinations and resolution requirements observed in biological materials.

About Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)
TU/e is a University of Technology with a focus on Health, Energy and Mobility. Within the Health area, several departments cooperate on topics such as Chemical Biology, Regenerative Medicine, Computational Biology, and Biosensing, with close links to healthcare and industry. TU/e is an open and inclusive university with short communication lines. The people are curious, collaborative, and strive for excellence. TU/e enables its academic staff to develop research and education at an internationally renowned level. Our lively campus community facilitates connections between staff and students, in an open, friendly, vibrant atmosphere that welcomes and inspires.

Biomedical Engineering
The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) offers a research driven BME Bachelor program and Masters in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Engineering in its Graduate Program. Its research areas range from Molecular Bioengineering and Imaging, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering to Biomedical Imaging and Modelling. The department has more than 800 students and up to 200 tenured and non-tenured employees.

The project will be mainly carried out at the Orthopeadics Biomechanics group within the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The project will take advantage from the existing infrastructures and flourishing areas of high-tech and information technologies at the TU/e and will benefit from collaborations with Mechanical Engineering Department and Artificial Intelligence group from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.  

Besides research you will also contribute to education within the department of Biomedical Engineering. Apart from supervising BSc and MSc students in their research projects, other assistance in education, e.g., in bachelor courses, is usually limited to around 5% of your contract time.

• A master's degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering or a related subject.
• Previous experience in 3d printing, electromechanical technologies, manufacturing and systems engineering, programming (Matlab, Pyton), biomaterials development and processing, regenerative medicine, would be highly advantageous.
• Being enthusiastic with experimental work
• A research-oriented attitude.
• Ability to work in a team and interested in collaborating with industrial partners.
• Excellent in spoken and written English.

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with the possibility to present your work at international conferences.
• A full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months.
• To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
• A gross monthly salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
• Should you come from abroad and comply with certain conditions, you can make use of the so-called '30% facility', which permits you not to pay tax on 30% of your salary.
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities.