Credit: Thijs Rooimans. Copyright: Hubrecht Institute 1 September 2025 Hans Clevers returns to the Hubrecht Institute Back to news Former Hubrecht director and group leader Hans Clevers returns to the Hubrecht Institute from September 1st. Here, he will lead the Organoid group – now Clevers group – holding the title of distinguished group leader, as a recognition of his special contributions to the institute, as a former director, and for his impact on the institute and society through his groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Clevers was group leader at the Hubrecht Institute from 2002 until March 2022. During that time, his group identified Lgr5 as a marker for adult stem cells, which eventually led to the development of organoid technology. Clevers and his team described for the first time how to grow organoids – miniature organs – from stem cells. Starting with mini-guts, the group is now able to grow organoids from almost every organ in the body, mimicking the shape and function of, for example, the stomach, liver, lung, pancreas, eye and brain. They can be used to study the functions of organs in health and disease. Using patient-derived cells, the group can also grow organoids that model diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis. These can be used not only to learn more about these diseases, but also as a platform for personalized drug screening. Bridging the gap Clevers left the Hubrecht Institute in 2022, to become Head of pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) at Roche in Basel, Switzerland. At Roche he founded the Institute for Human Biology (IHB), which develops human model systems to accelerate the development of new drugs. With a focus on organoids and organoids-on-a-chip technologies, the institute aims to bridge the gap between academic discoveries and the pharmaceutical industry. “As researchers, we often think that we can hand over our results to industry with a beautiful research paper, but that is not enough for industry to work with,” Clevers says. “Knowing what the industry needs is essential to be able to build on academic research and realize solutions for patients. The IHB was founded to fill that gap.” Return to academia While Clevers has always remained involved with the Hubrecht Institute as an advisor and guest researcher, he will now return as group leader to focus fully on science at the Clevers group. “I’m looking forward to guiding our researchers and making exciting new discoveries,” Clevers says. Hubrecht director Geert Kops adds: “We are pleased to welcome Hans Clevers back to the institute, for his groundbreaking science in the past and present, and look forward to the wonderful discoveries yet to come.” Hans Clevers is distinguished group leader at the Hubrecht Institute. He is group leader at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, professor in Molecular Genetics at Utrecht University and Investigator at Oncode Institute. Hans Clevers was the Head of pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) at Roche from 2022 to 2025. He previously held directorship/President positions at the Hubrecht Institute, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology.