معرفی
Marianna Tryfonidou is a Professor at Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, where she leads the Surgery of Companion Animals division and the Regenerative Orthopedics research group. She holds the position of EBVS® European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery and delivered her inaugural lecture on July 11, 2019.
Professor Tryfonidou's research focuses on developing innovative treatments for osteoarthritis and back pain caused by intervertebral disc degeneration. Her work follows the One Health-One Medicine principle, aiming to create therapies that benefit both canine and human patients. She employs spontaneous diseased canine models as preclinical platforms for translation toward human applications, recognizing that dogs suffer from similar degenerative processes as humans.
Her research has identified two primary treatment approaches: innovative drug delivery systems using biomaterials for pain relief in early-stage degeneration, and advanced stem cell therapies for advanced disc degeneration. Her iPSpine consortium received 15 million euros from the European Union to develop stem cell-based treatments that could rejuvenate worn intervertebral discs.
- Schimmel-Viruly Award (2008)
- NWO subsidy of €183,000 (2007)
Tryfonidou has led multiple significant research projects including BioAID (biomimetic artificial intervertebral disc), William Hunter Revisited (cartilage repair), and ArIADNE (anti-inflammatory drug delivery systems). Her Regenerative Orthopedics group operates within the Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht (RMCU) at Utrecht Science Park and maintains a biobank containing mesenchymal stromal cells, joint cartilage, and disc tissue from both healthy and degenerated sources.
