Biography 

Nicolas Rivron is a stem cell biologist and tissue engineer. He leads the laboratory for synthetic embryology at the MERLN Institute for technology-driven regenerative medicine and at the Hubrecht Institute for developmental biology and stem cell research. His laboratory created the blastoid system, the first model of early, pre-implantation embryos made in a dish from stem cells. His laboratory also develops platforms and technologies to induce, control and analyze self-organization and organogenesis in-a-dish.

Research Statement 

Our laboratory gathers scientists and engineers developing novel model systems of organs and organisms to investigate the design principles governing development. My general interests are in understanding how genetically encoded molecular programs yield the organisation into complex multicellular structures. I began my research career studying how the cells of blood vessels sense their chemical and physical environments to organize. My research has then shifted towards the utilization of stem cells to study how the early embryo forms. This led to the in vitro formation of the blastoid, a synthetic blastocyst with the potential to implant in utero.

Our research is grounded in fundamental stem cell biology using mouse and human embryonic and reprogrammed stem cells and in technologies using high throughput screenings in microsystems, single molecule imaging and single cell RNA sequencing in 3D model systems, organs and mouse embryos. Along with our epidemiologist, geneticist and clinician collaborators, we aim at using stem cell-based embryos to tackle the global health problems of infertility and understand the embryonic origin of chronic diseases.

Email: 

n.rivron[at]maastrichtuniversity[dot]nl

n.rivron[at]hubrecht[dot]eu

Group website:

www.nicolasrivron.org

www.blastoid.org

Twitter:

@NRivron

Selected publications:

• NC Rivron NC*, Frias-Aldeguer J, Vrij EJ, Boisset JC, Korving J, Vivié J, Truckenmüller RK, van Oudenaarden A, van Blitterswijk CA†, Geijsen N†. "Blastocyst-like structures generated solely from stem cells." Nature 2018, 557, 106–111. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0051-0

  
  

  * Corresponding author † Equal contribution

• Basak O, Krieger TG, Muraro MJ, Wiebrands K, Stange DE, Frias-Aldeguer J, Rivron NC, van de Wetering M, van Es JH, van Oudenaarden A, Simons BD, Clevers H. "Troy+ brain stem cells cycle through quiescence and regulate their number by sensing niche occupancy." PNAS 2018, 115, 610–619. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715911114

• Kicheva A, Rivron NC. "Creating to understand - developmental biology meets engineering in Paris." Development 2017, 144, 733–736. https://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.144915

• Vrij E, Rouwkema J, LaPointe V, van Blitterswijk C, Truckenmüller R, Rivron N. "Directed Assembly and Development of Material-Free Tissues with Complex Architectures." Advanced Material 2016, 28, 4032–4039. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201505723

• Rivron NC, Vrij EJ, Rouwkema J, Le Gac S, van den Berg A, Truckenmüller R, Rouwkema J, van Blitterswijk CA. "Tissue deformation spatially modulates VEGF signaling and angiogenesis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2012, 109, 6886–6891.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1201626109

• Rivron NC, Raiss CC, Liu J, Nandakumar A, Sticht C, Gretz N, Truckenmüller R, Rouwkema J, van Blitterswijk CA. "Sonic Hedgehog-activated engineered blood vessels enhance bone tissue formation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2012, 109, 4413–4418.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1117627109

• Truckenmüller R, Giselbrecht S, Rivron N, Gottwald E, Saile V, van den Berg A, Wessling M, van Blitterswijk CA. "Thermoforming of film-based biomedical microdevices." Advanced Materials 2011, 23, 1311–1329.   http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201003538

• Rivron NC, Rouwkema J, Truckenmüller R, Karperien M, De Boer J, Van Blitterswijk CA. "Tissue assembly and organization: developmental mechanisms in microfabricated tissues." Biomaterials 2009, 30, 4851–4858. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.06.037