Frank Luyten - Medical Scientific Director

Prof. Dr. Frank P. Luyten, MD, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the KU Leuven, Belgium.

After a residency in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the University Hospitals in Ghent, Belgium, he completed a postdoctoral training in cartilage and bone biology under the mentorship of AH Reddi at the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, USA. In 1992, he became Group Leader at this same Institute. In 1997, he accepted the position of Head of the Division of Rheumatology at the University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium. He also became director of the Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Center and of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary platform for Skeletal Tissue Engineering at the KU Leuven, Belgium.

He belongs to the few academicians that can bridge the gap between bench and bedside and make a successful translation of innovative treatments to the patient and market. As co-founder of TiGenix, he was instrumental in the development of ChondroCelect™, the first cell based ATMP with central registration at the European Medicines Agency. Prof. Luyten is/was member of the board of Directors of several SMEs and serves as Medical and Scientific Advisor for the biotech/pharma sector, in particular for regenerative medicine products.