Drs. Marianna Bugiani

Since 2001, Marianna Bugiani has focused on childhood glial degenerative, metabolic and tumor disorders. She holds specific expertise in clinical practice, diagnostics, animal and comparative neuroanatomy, and clinical and basic research, and developed a multidisciplinary approach for the identification and study of the disease mechanisms underlying leukodystrophies. Since 2007, MB is appointed in Amsterdam. She is an active member of the Amsterdam Leukodystrophy Center where she coordinates the tissue biobank. 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 focuses on the role of glia and their spatial and temporal heterogeneity in leukodystrophies, aiming at understanding how the loss of essential functions and gain of detrimental functions impacts all aspects of white matter degeneration and influences endogenous repair.