Dr. Holger Jahr studied biology (biochemistry, physiology, genetics) and graduated with degrees in microbiology and gene technology (M.Sc., Hons) in Bielefeld/Germany. After his Ph.D., he joined the Department of Molecular Genetics in Groningen to set up the first custom-spotted DNA microarray facility. Soon thereafter, he joined Erasmus MC in Rotterdam to co-develop a novel dynamic diagnostic chip for skeletal disease profiling in collaboration with industry. He is interested in how chondrocytes survive in their constantly changing physicochemical environment, their cell signaling, matrix turnover, and the cell’s extra- and intracellular microenvironmental stimuli. Now, as Head of Biomaterials and Molecular Musculoskeletal Research in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, his goals are to develop more physiologically relevant ex-vivo cell culture systems to better understand which factors control the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes and progenitor cells during wound repair. Furthermore, these systems are also essential to study biomaterial–cell interactions with the novel biomaterials for musculoskeletal tissue repair that he is developing. His work on additively manufactured, resorbable metal implants received the 2017 Klee Family Innovation Award.