Speaker: Marianna Tryfonidou
Location: Biomedical Sciences Building, University of Galway
Date: Thursday, 29th January 2026
Professor Marianna Tryfonidou (Utrecht University) joined the department of Clinical Sciences of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1998. She is a certified veterinary surgeon (European College of Veterinary Surgeons) and a Professor of Regenerative Orthopedics.
The focus of her research is on understanding the underlying pathophysiology and on developing treatment strategies for back pain and osteoarthritis. Challenges are addressed by combining her clinical background with unique spontaneous diseased canine models and cutting-edge biomolecular techniques.
The “Dutch Arthritis Society” (ReumaNederland) recognised the Tryfonidou lab as a Research Centre of Excellence. She has participated in large public-private partnerships (e.g. BioMedical Materials IDiDAS, LSH ArIADNE, AO Spine Research Spine Network) where she coordinated translation of therapeutic strategies, being successful at the cross road of industry, academia, clinicians and patients.
She has successfully led the Horizon 2020 consortium (iPSpine; 2019-2024), bringing a transdisciplinary team of 21 partners together to address the challenges and bottlenecks of iPS-based advanced therapies towards their transition to the clinic. Here, chronic back pain due to intervertebral disc degeneration is employed as a showcase. Having demonstrated the ability to develop her own innovative line of research and to act as a coach for young researchers, she received the prestigious VICI grant in the NWO Talent Programme to develop a nanomedicine-based therapeutic approach.
The seminar is hosted by Abhay Pandit.
