dr. W.F.A. (Wilfred) den Dunnen

Wilfred den Dunnen (1971) studied medicine at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. During his studies he started with his PhD thesis on biodegradable nerve guides for the reconstruction of peripheral nerves. He obtained his MD in February 1996 and his PhD shortly thereafter in the same year. After a few years as an assistant in surgery (amongst others 1 year of neurosurgery) he started his training in 1999 as a surgical pathologist and combined this with neuropathology from 2000. In September 2004 he became a staff member at the Dept of Pathology and Medical Biology at the UMCG.

Research is mainly focussed on 2 lines: neuro-oncology and neurodegenerative diseases / brain aging, which are embedded in the graduate school for Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN). For the former both basic and translational research is performed financed by KWF, and local fundings. The main focus here is tumor cell / brain environment interaction. For the latter the research is funded by ParkinsonFonds, Stichting Woelse Waard and Michael J Fox Foundation. These studies focus on the interaction between the formation of inclusion bodies and (programmed) cell death mechanisms.