Living with a mitochondrial energy metabolism disorder can make every day feel steeper than it should. Regenerative medicine is trying to flatten that climb, and in Maastricht, Professor Bert Smeets is working to bring that approach into the clinic.

Smeets, Professor in Clinical Genomics at Maastricht University, studies hereditary disorders of energy metabolism in which faulty mitochondrial DNA leaves muscle cells unable to generate enough energy, causing progressive weakness and fatigue. His research targets the underlying energy deficit itself, rather than just managing symptoms.

The turning point came when his team found that even in affected muscle, stem cells were still present in the tissue with no or very low levels of mutated mtDNA, which were shown to be healthy. Isolated from a small biopsy and expanded in the lab, these cells can be returned to the body to help form new, healthy muscle fibers and by fusion ameliorate existing affected fibres.

Turning that discovery into a real therapy takes more than science, Smeets stresses that it takes infrastructure, clinical expertise, and the ability to manufacture treatments at scale. Limburg's Brightlands ecosystem brings those pieces together, allowing Milocron, the company Smeets founded, to focus on developing the therapy for the clinic.

In an early clinical study, one patient's arm received stem cells while the other served as a comparison and endurance improved. As Smeets puts it, what looks like a modest gain in the data can mean a real difference for someone who feels every day like an uphill effort. Larger studies are still needed to confirm how strong and lasting the effect is, but if they do, Smeets sees it marking a genuine shift in care: from managing the disease to actively reversing it.

Read the full article on Bert Smeet's work in regenerative medicine: 'Lichaamseigen cellen pakken ziekten aan bij de kern.' 
By: De Volkskrant, 18 april 2026.