Dr Nils Beßler is a postdoctoral researcher and bioengineer at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Maastricht University, working in collaboration with the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), University of Newcastle.
He completed his PhD at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology (2019–2026), where he initiated and developed the first human brainstem organoid (BrO) platform for modelling H3K27M-altered Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG), a uniformly fatal childhood brain cancer. This work, partly published in Nature Cancer (2026) and protected by an international patent, integrates organ-on-chip technology, immune co-culture systems, and CAR T cell therapy modelling. His broader expertise spans iPSC-derived organoid engineering, extrusion and light-based bioprinting, and single-cell transcriptomics. He has authored six peer-reviewed publications, delivered keynote and oral presentations at international conferences including SNO and CSHL, and is committed to advancing animal-free science for paediatric oncology. His current work focuses on standardising and scaling brainstem organoids and assembloids for neuromodulatory applications using biofabrication.