Matthias Lutolf (born in 1973, also known as Matthias Lütolf) is a bio-engineer and a professor at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) where he leads the Laboratory of Stem Cell Bioengineering. He is specialised in

biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been Biological engineering, engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a Medical diag ...

s, and in combining stem cell biology and engineering to develop improved organoid models. In 2021, he became the scientific director for

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...

's Institute for Translation Bioengineering in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Career

Lutolf studied

materials engineering Materials science is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origi ...

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

where he graduated in 1998. In 2002, he received his PhD in

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

from

for his studies on cell-responsive

hydrogels A hydrogel is a biphasic material, a mixture of porous and permeable solids and at least 10% of water or other interstitial fluid. The solid phase is a water insoluble three dimensional network of polymers, having absorbed a large amount of ...

for tissue engineering and cell culture, in the group of

Jeffrey Hubbell Jeffrey Alan Hubbell is an American bioengineer working immunoengineering. His research has focused on topics from physical biology, biomaterials, regenerative medicine, and translational immunology. Early life and education He received his bache ...

. He completed postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Helen Blau at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he worked on novel cell culture approaches for blood and muscle stem cells, so called synthetic niches. In 2007, he founded his own laboratory at EPFL, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2018. From 2014 to 2018, he was director of EPFL's Institute of Bioengineering. In June 2021, Lutolf became scientific director of the newly established

Institute for Translational Bioengineering in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Research

Lutolf's laboratory develops in vitro

organoid An organoid is a miniaturised and simplified version of an organ produced ''in vitro'' in three dimensions that mimics the key functional, structural, and biological complexity of that organ. It is derived from one or a few cells from a tissu ...

s mimicking healthy and diseased tissues and organs. Specifically, Lutolf uses bioengineering strategies to guide stem cell-based development to build novel organoids with improved reproducibility and

physiological relevance Physiological relevance is a scientific concept that refers to the applicability or significance of a particular experimental finding or biological observation in the context of normal bodily functions. This concept is often used in biomedical res ...

for basic science and in vitro testing of drug candidates. His team has developed approaches to generate organoids in fully controllable 3D matrices, and has contributed to the understanding of how extrinsic biochemical and physical factors control

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

fate and

organogenesis Organogenesis is the phase of embryonic development that starts at the end of gastrulation and continues until birth. During organogenesis, the three germ layers formed from gastrulation (the ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm) form the internal org ...

. His team has developed concepts based on

microfabrication Microfabrication is the process of fabricating miniature structures of micrometre scales and smaller. Historically, the earliest microfabrication processes were used for integrated circuit fabrication, also known as "semiconductor manufacturing" ...

bioprinting Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the use of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, bio-inks, and biomaterials to fabricate functional structures that were traditionally used for tissue engineering applications but ...

, and

microfluidics Microfluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids (10−9 to 10−18 liters) using small channels with sizes of ten to hundreds of micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, molecular bi ...

to improve the reproducibility, size, shape, and function of

Distinctions

In 2007, Lutolf received the European Young Investigator ( EURYI) Award by the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes science in Europe. It was e ...

. Since 2018, he is elected as member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). He serves as associate editor of

The Company of Biologists The Company of Biologists is a UK-based charity and not-for-profit publisher that was established in 1925 by George Parker Bidder III with the aim of promoting research and study across all branches of biology. The company publishes currently f ...

' journal ''

Development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

''.

Publications

* * * * * * * * *

External links

* * Website of th
Laboratory of Stem Cell Bioengineering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutolf, Matthias Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne ETH Zurich alumni Stanford University people 21st-century Swiss biologists Living people 1973 births Bioengineers