Sana Sayedipour
Post Doctoral Researcher
Sana Sayedipour began her PhD research in April 2020 at the Department of Molecular Epidemiology at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).
She pursued her academic training in cell biology, tissue engineering, biomaterials, and regenerative medicine. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology. During her early research career, she developed a broad interdisciplinary background in cell-based therapies, drug-delivery systems, nanotechnology, and preclinical disease models.
During her PhD, Sana investigated thermosensitive injectable hydrogels as delivery systems for stem cells and therapeutic agents. She developed poloxamer-based hydrogels containing self-assembling peptides to support in situ gelation, prolonged joint retention, and localized treatment. She also studied the therapeutic potential of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hiMSCs) and their extracellular vesicles in osteoarthritis.
Her work combined in vitro studies, human osteochondral explant models, and the destabilization of the medial meniscus mouse model. She applied a wide range of methods, including cell culture, biomaterial characterization, histology, molecular biology, imaging, and bulk, single-cell, and spatial transcriptomics. Her doctoral research resulted in three first-author publications and several collaborative studies in hiPSC differentiation, regenerative medicine, and osteoarthritis. In 2026, Sana obtained her PhD with honors for her dissertation, “Development of Innovative Therapeutic Strategies for Osteoarthritis: Exploring Thermosensitive Hydrogels, hiPSC-derived Cells and Cell Products, and Novel Drugs in Preclinical Models.”
She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Molecular Epidemiology at LUMC. Within the RegMed consortium, she focuses on developing and evaluating advanced cell- and biomaterial-based therapies for osteoarthritis, including hiPSC-derived stromal cells and human ex vivo joint models.