Bert van Rietbergen is an Associate Professor in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics research group. Most of his research is aimed at the evaluation of bone structural and mechanical properties for the study of bone diseases (osteoporosis) and implant failure. He has developed a new computational approach for mechanical analysis of bone structures from high-resolution images, and over the last decade his work has focused on clinical applications of this approach for improved diagnosis of bone fracture risk.

Apart from bone fracture risk diagnosis, it is also important to predict how this fracture risk may develop as the results of aging, pharmacological treatments or orthopedic surgery. Van Rietbergen aims at predicting this by developing computational models based on mechanical and biological principles that are validated relative to data obtained from clinical studies.

In recent projects Van Rietbergen is concerned with patient specific prognosis of the risk of bone fracture, multiscale approaches to predict bone remodeling, the analysis of surgical procedures such as used for correction/stabilization of skeletal deformities/fractures and the application of biomaterials.  

Bert van Rietbergen studied mechanical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, The Netherlands) where he received his MSc degree in 1988. After a short appointment as research assistant at the department of Cariology and Endodontology of Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands), he moved to the Orthopaedic Research Lab of that same university in 1989. From 1992-1996 he performed his PhD research there under supervision of Prof. Rik Huiskes. He obtained his PhD cum laude with his thesis on 'Mechanical behavior and adaptation of trabecular bone in relation to bone morphology'. In 1997, Van Rietbergen moved to Switzerland for a postdoc position at the ETH Zürich (Institute of Biomedical Engineering). In 1999 he returned to the TU/e to be appointed at Assistant Professor in the newly formed department of Biomedical Engineering. In 2003 he was appointed Associate Professor of Bone & Orthopaedic Biomechanics. 

· Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Research School CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands 

Partners in (semi-)industry

· Scanco Medical AG