Blitterswijk graduated from a bachelor in cell biology at Leiden University and defended his PhD thesis in 1985 at the same university on artificial ceramic middle ear implants under the supervision of Professor Jan Grote[3] and Klaas de Groot,[4] for which he was awarded the Jean Leray young scientist award from the European Society for Biomaterials in 1987.

[5] From 1985 to 1996, he worked on hydroxyapatite biomaterials for middle ear implants under the mentorship of Jan Grote[6][7][8] and Klaas De Groot[9][10] at Leiden University.

In 1996, he left Leiden University and co-founded, together with Klaas De Groot, IsoTis BV, a life sciences company focused on bone biomaterials and tissue engineering.

In collaboration with Jan de Boer, Hemant Unadkat, and Dimitrios Stamatialis, he contributed to the development of a high-throughput assay to design and select micrometer-scale surface textures that could enhance specific biological functions (TopoChip).

In 2015, he was awarded an ERC Advanced grant that aimed at developing microfabricated and microfluidic cell culture platforms for improving organoids.