Patricia Dankers - Biography#

Patricia Y.W. Dankers, PhD, PhD, is professor in Biomedical Materials & Chemistry in the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), and the department of Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).

Her particular research interests are on the design and synthesis of functional biomaterials. In her research, the chemistry of different supramolecular polymeric biomaterials held together via directed, non-covalent interactions is the central theme. Besides obtaining fundamental knowledge on the functioning of supramolecular biomaterials in a biological environment, translation of these biomaterials to biomedical applications is an important task within her research group.

She studied chemistry at the Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, where she majored in biochemistry and organic chemistry. During her PhD in natural sciences and chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the group of prof.dr. E.W. (Bert) Meijer, she combined her fascination for biochemistry and supramolecular chemistry. She developed and studied supramolecular bioactive biomaterials by introducing a modular approach. After her PhD defense in 2006, she worked for the company SupraPolix in Eindhoven, and in the laboratory of Pathology and Medical Biology at the University Medical Center Groningen where together with prof.dr. Marja J.A. van Luyn she initiated the bioartificial kidney project in the Netherlands. She defended her second PhD thesis in medical sciences on kidney regenerative medicine in 2013. In 2010 she worked in the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at the Northwestern University in Chicago, USA, in the research group of prof.dr. Samuel I. Stupp. She started as an assistant professor in 2008, became an associate professor in 2014, and is full professor since 2017 at the TU/e.

She is a NWO Veni, Vidi and Vici laureate (2008, 2017, 2023) and received an ERC starting (2012) and ERC Proof of Concept grant (2017). She has been awarded various grants and awards, such as the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award at the American Chemical Society national meeting (2019), the KNCV Gold Medal (2020), and the Ammodo Award for Fundamental Science (2021). From 2011-2013 she has been a member of the first Young Dutch Health Council, and from 2015-2020 a member and board member of the Young Academy of the Royal Dutch Society of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Recently, she was one of the main applicants on the funded Gravitation Program to found the Research Center for Interactive Polymer Materials (IPM) in Eindhoven (2022). Next to briljant science, she also started two successful companies in biomaterials that received numerous awards for their original approaches