Vanessa LaPointe is an Associate Professor at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, where she leads the Cell Therapy Group focused on the intersection of biology, medicine, and engineering to tackle the greatest challenges in regenerative medicine to treat patients with chronic diseases. 

Vanessa earned her biomedical engineering degree from The Johns Hopkins University before pursuing her PhD at Imperial College London with Prof. Molly Stevens. It was during her PhD that she became interested in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and she discovered her passion for developing conditions to let cells do their thing. This passion led her to start her own lab in 2016, where she continues to work towards improving patient outcomes.

In addition to her research, Vanessa has received a CIHR Fellowship for her postdoctoral research at the University of Twente and has served as the Scientific Coordinator and Deputy Programme Director of RegMed XB, an international public-private–partnership aimed at curing chronic diseases through regenerative medicine solutions. She also serves as the Chair of the Maastricht Young Academy and as a Member of the Maastricht University Council.