Lena Burbulla

Prof. Dr. Lena Burbulla serves as a Group Leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Munich, Germany, where she leads research on molecular pathways in neurodegeneration. Her work focuses on Parkinson's disease and rare NBIA disorders like BPAN, utilizing human-specific models to overcome limitations of animal studies.

Her research group pioneers induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to create patient-derived neuronal models, investigating dopamine metabolism dysregulation, mitochondrial-lysosomal dysfunction, iron dyshomeostasis, and oxidative stress in vulnerable dopaminergic neurons. Key discoveries include identifying oxidized dopamine as a driver of human-specific pathological cascades in Parkinson's disease and uncovering shared mechanisms between Parkinson's and BPAN involving iron accumulation and neuromelanin polymerization. The group emphasizes neuron-glia crosstalk to explore non-cell-autonomous neurodegeneration mechanisms.

Analysis of her publication record reveals a strong translational trajectory from basic mechanistic discoveries (2017-2018) to therapeutic development (2019-2021), with consistent focus on dopamine metabolism defects across Parkinson's disease and NBIA disorders. Her work establishes human neuronal models as essential tools for identifying species-specific pathological mechanisms and developing targeted interventions.

At DZNE, Dr. Burbulla directs a multidisciplinary team integrating genomic approaches with functional physiological assays in long-term iPSC-derived neuronal cultures. The laboratory actively investigates disease progression mechanisms through combined analysis of dopamine metabolism imbalance, toxic byproduct generation, and iron regulation defects, while exploring therapeutic strategies including small molecule modulation and drug repurposing of FDA-approved compounds.