Patricia Dankers
CSO & Co-founder
Patricia Y.W. Dankers, PhD, PhD, is full professor in Biomedical Materials and Chemistry in the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), and the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering & Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). 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/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. Here, she laid the foundation for the supramolecular polymers nowadays used by Xeltis in their RestoreXTM technology to treat patients with cardiovascular pathologies. 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 at the University of Groningen in 2013. In 2010 she worked at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA, in the research group of prof. dr. Samuel I. Stupp. She has climbed every step on the academic ladder, from assistant professor (2008) and tenured associate professor (2014) till full professor (2017). Moreover, she is co-founder of UPyTher (2020), VivArt-X (2022) and the Helmond Biotech-materials Hub (HBH, 2023).
She received Veni, Vidi & Vici (2008, 2017, 2023) and ERC starting & ERC PoC (2012, 2017) grants. She has been awarded various prizes, such as the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation award at the ACS (2019), the KNCV Gold Medal (2020) and the Ammodo Award for Fundamental Science (2021). 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). She is a co-founder of the spin-off companies UPyTher (2020) and VivArt-X (2022), and the Helmond Biotech-materials Hub (HBH, 2023).