PREMSTEM Project - can stem cells be used to regenerate brain damages caused by premature birth?

Dr. Zimmermann will discuss the international research project “PREMSTEM” which aims to see if stem cells can be used to regenerate the brain damage caused by premature birth.

The five-year project will develop clinical-trials ready research program to treat brain injury in prematurely born infants. It will exam the best regiment, timing, dose and administration route for H-MSC as therapy for this specific type of brain injury.

Disturbances in the brain’s growth, such as due to premature birth, can result in cerebral palsy, severely impaired cognitive functions and disorders such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Stem cells have a huge potential to ameliorate or decrease the burden of these long term problems.

Prof. Dr. Luc Zimmermann, Senior Medical Director EFCNI, Munich, Germany and
Professor of Paediatrics and Neonatology at Maastricht UMC+ , The Netherlands. He’s also the Program Leader of Reproductive and Perinatal Medicine in Research Institute GROW.


His ambition is to implement the European Standards of Care for Newborn Health European wide to improve the situation of mothers and newborn infants and ensure more equal care in Europe. He is involved in several international research projects, representing EFCNI, such as the PREMSTEM project.

As a Belgian, he studied medicine and did his paediatric training in Leuven, Belgium. After his fellowship in neonatology in Toronto, Canada, he worked as a staff neonatologist and Chief of Neonatology at the Sophia Children’s Hospital, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. In 2003 he moved to Maastricht and worked as a staff neonatologist (2003-2019), Chief of Neonatology (2005-2017) and Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics (2006-2019) at Maastricht UMC+. He is past president of the European Society of Paediatric Research (ESPR).
From an early stage in his professional career, he developed a distinct research interest in the development of the preterm lung, on which he did his Ph.D. and continued his further research. His research topics have widened in the last several years and the strategy of his department focussed on academic family integrated care.