The MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine was founded in 2014 by Prof. Clemens van Blitterswijk. Van Blitterswijk also headed the Complex Tissue Regeneration (CTR) department at that time. Together with the other two departments, namely Instructive Biomaterial Engineering (IBE), led by Prof. Pamela Habibovic and Cell Biology-Inspired Tissue Engineering (cBITE), led by Prof. Jan de Boer, MERLN quickly grew to become a successful institute performing cutting-edge science, establishing new interdisciplinary collaborations, and building up an excellent regional, national and international reputation.

In December 2018, Pamela Habibovic became the new Scientific Director of the Institute. At the same time, Prof. Lorenzo Moroni took over as head of the CTR department and began as the institute's Vice Director, while Jan de Boer moved to the Technical University Eindhoven. In September 2019, cBITE gained a new department head, when Prof. Martijn van Griensven was appointed. Van Blitterswijk still continues to serve as a principal investigator and scientific advisor to MERLN and joins our Business Development Officer, Prof. Marianne van der Steen, on MERLN's advisory team. 

In February 2022, MERLN underwent another change when Pamela Habibovic was promoted to Rector of Maastricht University. Shortly after, Lorenzo Moroni was appointed as Scientific Director of the Institute with Martijn van Griensven as Vice Director. 

The chart below depicts MERLN's current organizational structure which also shows the Principal Investigators, our Managing Director Dr. Sef Janssen, and the Executive Team, consisting of Van Blitterswijk, the department heads, and Prof. Roman Truckenmüller.

Prof. Lorenzo Moroni, Scientific Director of MERLN.
Picture by Carlos Peniche Silva.