Emma van Bodegraven

Emma van Bodegraven is an assistant professor at the department of Translational Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Utrecht Brain Center. Her research focuses on the interaction between brain tumors and the human brain environment, with the goal of understanding how extrinsic factors such as mechanical properties and specific brain cell types drive malignant behavior in tumors. She works in close collaboration with clinicians and uses human models, including iPSC-derived brain systems and patient-derived brain tumor cells, to investigate these complex interactions.

Emma completed her PhD at the UMC Utrecht Brain Center in 2019, after which she received a postdoctoral fellowship from Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer to work at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. In 2021, she returned to the UMC Utrecht Brain Center supported by a Rudolf Magnus Young Talent Fellowship and a Veni grant (ENW, NWO) to continue her postdoctoral research. Since 2023, she has held a position as assistant professor at the department of Translational Neuroscience of the UMC Utrecht Brain Center to continue her neuro-oncology research.