Renate grew up in the fortified city of Klundert, a village located between Breda and Rotterdam. Her father owned a printing office, which she initially expected to take over later in life. However, after exploring her options, she realized that she wanted to pursue a university education and considered studying Industrial Engineering. Ultimately, her interest in chemistry and engineering led her to choose Biomedical Engineering as her major. At the age of 18, Renate moved to Eindhoven to attend university, and despite the change, the city felt like home due to its small community feel. After the first months in Eindhoven, she decided not to go home every weekend. “Sorry mom and dad” she laughs. During her studies, Renate was very involved in the volleyball association (ESVV Hajraa) and served as president of the board. She even organized two large outdoor tournaments and continues to attend the event every year.
Academic background
During Renate's masters, she completed an internal internship at the TU/e Cellab where she studied the role of hypoxia on endothelial cell growth. She also completed an external internship at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. After graduation, Renate sought a job as a biomedical engineer but found that the market was poor for this field at that time. She then worked in customer service at an energy company. However, during her graduation ceremony, she was asked by Frank van de Vosse if she wanted to pursue a PhD at the university. She decided to take the opportunity and studied cardiovascular biomechanics with imaging, where she worked on the development of an ex vivo experimental platform for imaging plaque from patients for better patient selection for carotid surgery.
Joining LifeTec Group
After completing her PhD, Renate started working at Philips through Bright Society, where she mainly focused on ultrasound technology. With the venture team she developed needle tip tracking technology for regional anesthesia, going through the entire product-to-market cycle, including post market surveillance. However, at a certain point, she missed the pre-clinical development period with shorter cycles, which ultimately led her to apply for the R&D Manager position at LifeTec Group. Renate hesitated at first, as her friend Linda worked there, but after a good conversation, she decided to apply. Renate already knew LifeTec from her PhD days, as the company was in the same building as where she worked. Renate enjoys the pre-clinical phase of R&D: "I'm excited to join the team at LifeTec Group and continue to pursue my passion for pre-clinical R&D. Being able to work with motivated people and help reduce the use of lab animals is truly rewarding." For Renate, it's important to have a work environment with motivated people and a variety of tasks. She hopes to have some hands-on work in the lab too and help out as much as possible.
With Renate's diverse background and knowledge, she's sure to be a valuable member of the team at LifeTec Group. We are excited to have her on board and can't wait to see what she brings to the table for the benefit of the company and their customers.
