BUGIANI Marianna

 

Since 2001, MB has focused on childhood glial degenerative, metabolic and tumor disorders. She holds specific expertise in clinical practice (clinical neurology, neuroradiology and functional neuroimaging), diagnostics (neurogenetics, biochemistry and neurophysiology), animal and comparative neuroanatomy, and clinical and basic research, and developed a multidisciplinary approach for the identification and study of the disease mechanisms of white matter disorders.

 

Since 2007, MB is appointed at the VU University in Amsterdam. Here, she obtained a degree in (neuro)pathology and a PhD in neuroscience (cellular and molecular biology of glial cells). She is an active member of the Amsterdam leukodystrophy center, the tissue biobank of which she coordinates. Her studies have contributed to a paradigm shift in the concept of leukodystrophies, from genetic diseases of myelin to diseases due to defects in any structural component of the white matter. As a consequence, she also put forward a new classification of these disorders. Her current research focusses on the role of astrocytes and their spatial and temporal heterogeneity in leukodystrophies, aiming at understanding how the loss of essential astrocytic functions and gain of detrimental functions impacts all aspects of white matter degeneration and influences endogenous repair.

In parallel, MB is an active teacher within the Amsterdam residency school in pathology, focussing on the fields of post-mortem, paediatric, eye and neuropathology. She is also active in teaching bachelor and master students in beta disciplines, including Medicine and Surgery.