Theodoor Smit

Theodoor Smit is professor of Translational Regenerative Medicine at Amsterdam University Medical Centers (Amsterdam UMC), Amsterdam, Netherlands.

He obtained a MSc in Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft, Netherlands, and a PhD in Biomechanical Engineering at Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Germany, in 1996. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the role of mechanics in biology, more particular the mechanobiology of development and disease. The etiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, more precisely: the mechanical origin of scoliotic deformities, has been a major research theme throughout his career. The long-term clinical goal of his research is to develop implants to provide temporary mechanical support with degradable polymers, so that tissues can regenerate and heal in a proper way after trauma and disease. Smit received various prestigious research grants from government as well as industry. In 2011, he spent a sabbatical year at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Boston. Smit…