Matthew Baker is an Associate Professor at Maastricht University, and the group leader of the BioMatt group. He is a chemist by training, and the group takes a molecular view of materials design. Moving from South Carolina, to Florida, to the Netherlands, international research is ingrained in his approach. As a result, our group aims to keep a mix of nationalities, backgrounds, and expertise.
Dr. Matthew (Matt) Baker received his B.S. in chemistry (2006) at Clemson University and worked shortly for Tetramer Technologies, LLC. Afterwards, he obtained his PhD in 2012 in Physical Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Ronald K. Castellano at the University of Florida. Jumping across the pond, he then moved to Eindhoven University of Technology to design and characterize water soluble supramolecular polymers under guidance of Prof. E. W. Meijer. During his time at TU/e, he starting thinking of cells by creating supramolecular hydrogelators for extracellular matrix (ECM) mimics.
In May 2015, Matthew Baker joined the MERLN institute as a researcher, while also starting a group to explore the utility of dynamic interactions in biomaterials. In 2017, he founded a group to rationally design, synthesize, and characterize biomaterials based around stimuli-responsive and dynamic interactions. Currently, he serves as the group’s biggest fan, and aims to train scientists at the interface of Chemistry and Bioengineering. He loves NMR, maybe a bit too much for the group’s liking.