Dr. Bucci is fascinated with the brain and its capacity for change and plasticity after traumatic events. Her research has centered on a comprehensive approach to these topics:
- How to measure brain connectivity and neuroplasticity.
- What are the effects of traumatic stress on physical, mental and behavioral health in children and adults.
- Which are the most successful interventions to promote resilience and healing after life’s adversities.
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Below is an overview of some of Dr. Bucci’s areas of research. To see a complete list of publications, see her Google Scholar profile here.
Stress and Adversity
As the Director of Research at the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, Dr. Bucci leads a team of researchers in pioneering research on how stress affects brain and body as well as on which interventions can promote resilience and health in children and adolescents.
Her work is expanding the field of the neurobiology of stress and has been published in the following scientific journals.
What happens when stress becomes toxic for the body and the brain? Toxic Stress in Children and Adolescents. Bucci Monica, MD et al. Advances in Pediatrics, Volume 63, Issue 1, 403 – 428.
How does stress affect children physically and mentally? Oh, D. L., Jerman, P., Silvério Marques, S., Koita, K., Purewal Boparai, S. K., Burke Harris, N., & Bucci, M. (2018). Systematic review of pediatric health outcomes associated with childhood adversity. BMC Pediatrics, 18, 83.
Result-proven strategies to reduce stress from trauma: Sukhdip K. Purewal Boparai, Vanessa Au, Kadiatou Koita, Debora Lee Oh, Susan Briner, Nadine Burke Harris, Monica Bucci. Ameliorating the biological impacts of childhood adversity: A review of intervention programs, Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 81, 2018, Pages 82-105.
How can you measure the effects of stress and trauma in children? Debora Lee Oh, MSc, PhD, Petra Jerman, PhD, MPH, Sukhdip K. Purewal Boparai, MPH, Kadiatou Koita, MD, MS, Susan Briner, MD, Monica Bucci, MD, & Nadine Burke Harris, MD,MPH, FAAP. Review of Tools for Measuring Exposure to Adversity in Children and Adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. In Press.
A policy lens on the effects of stress from trauma: Prevent, Screen, Heal: Collective Action to Fight the Toxic Effects of Early Life AdversityBurke Harris, Nadine, Sara Silvério Marques, Debora Oh, Monica Bucci, Mark Cloutier. Academic Pediatrics, Volume 17, Issue 7, S14 – S15.
Brain Injury and Neurodegenerative Diseases
As Research Faculty at the Weill Institute for Neuroscience of the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Bucci investigated the impacts on the connectivity of the nervous system in patients suffering brain injuries, tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. The results have been published in several scientific journals.
The impacts of a chronic neurodegenerative disease on the nervous system: Cree BAC, Bucci M, Henry RG, Hauser SL et al. “Long-term evolution of multiple sclerosis disability in the treatment era”. Annals of Neurology, 80(4), 499–510.
The impacts of a chronic neurodegenerative disease on the spinal cord: Schlaeger R, Papinutto N, Zhu AH, Lobach IV, Bevan CJ, Bucci M, Cree BA, Hauser SL, Henry RG et al. “Association Between Thoracic Spinal Cord Gray Matter Atrophy and Disability in Multiple Sclerosis”. JAMA Neurol. 2015 Aug 1;72(8):897-904.
How a chronic neurodegenerative disease can damage the spinal cord? Schlaeger R, Papinutto N, Panara V, Bevan C, Lobach IV, Bucci M, Caverzasi E, Gelfand JM, Green AJ, Jordan KM, Stern WA, von Büdingen HC, Waubant E, Zhu AH, Goodin DS, Cree BA, Hauser SL, Henry RG. “Spinal cord gray matter atrophy correlates with multiple sclerosis disability.” Ann Neurol. 2014 Aug 1.
How can brain tumors change the way the brain connects to our motor system? Maria Luisa Mandelli, Bagrat Amirbekian, Monica Bucci, Jeffrey Berman, Mitchel S. Berger, Roland G. Henry. “Quantifying Accuracy and Precision of Diffusion MRI Tractography of the Corticospinal Tract in Brain Tumors.” J Neurosurg. 2014 Aug;121(2):349-58.
How to detect atherosclerosis – a major risk factor for stroke – in your neck arteries? Monica Bucci, Randy Hawkins, Sandeep Arora, Steve Bacharach, Carina Mari Aparici, Max Wintermark, “Validation of FDG uptake in the arterial wall as imaging biomarker of Atherosclerotic Plaques with 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography- Computed Tomography (FDG-PET/CT).”
Neuroplasticity and Brain Connectivity
As a postdoctoral fellow in the departments of Neuroradiology and Neurology of the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Bucci studied brain connectivity and neuroplasticity of the central nervous system in children and adults. Her work has been featured in peer review journals and at international conferences.
How does our brain connect in resting state? Kelly P. Westlake, Monica Bucci, Leighton B. Hinkley, Adrian G. Guggisberg, Anne M. Findlay, Susanne M. Honma, Nancy Byl, Roland G. Henry, Srikantan S. Nagarajan, “Resting State Alpha-band Functional Connectivity and Recovery of Upper Extremity Function after Stroke.”
The use of stem cells to investigate the growth of the human brain: Nalin Gupta, Anthony Barkovich, Monica Bucci et al., “Evidence for Neural Stem Cell Engraftment and Myelination in the Human Brain.” Science Translational Medicine, Exp Neurol. 2012 Sep;237(1):160-9.
Exploring the connections of the brain with our motor system: Monica Bucci, Maria Luisa Mandelli, Mitchel S. Berger, Jeffrey I. Berman, Bagrat Amirbekian, Christopher Nguyen, and Roland G. Henry. “Quantifying Diffusion MRI Tractography of the Corticospinal Tract in Brain Tumors with deterministic and probabilistic methods.” Neuroimage Clin. 2013; 3: 361–368
The powerful neuroprotective effects of Vitamin D: Ellen M. Mowry, Emmanuelle Waubant, Charles E. McCulloch, Darin T. Okuda, Alan A. Evangelista, Robin R. Lincoln, Pierre-Antoine Gourraud, Don Brenneman, Mary C. Owen, Pamela Qualley, Monica Bucci, Stephen L. Hauser, Daniel Pelletier. “Higher vitamin D levels are associated with the development of fewer T2- and gadolinium-enhancing brain MRI lesions in multiple sclerosis.” Ann Neurol. 2012 Aug; 72 (2):234-40.doi:10.1002/ana.23591.
Brain and Language
As a young Neurology resident at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy and then postdoctoral fellow in the department of Neuroradiology of the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Bucci researched the connectivity of the brain regions involved in language.
Studying the way our brain developed the function of language: SungWon Chung, Monica Bucci, Jeffrey I. Berman, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, Mitchel S. Berger and Roland G. Henry, “Role of the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus in Human Language: a DTI Tractography Electrocortical Stimulation Mapping Study.” Journal of Neuroimaging 2013.
How are language and writing connected in our brain? Caramagno A., Capasso R., Bucci M., Ronca S., Miceli G., Zampetti P., “Phonological agraphia: functional and anatomical correlates of seven cases.” Brain and language, 2005, v. 95, n. 1, p. 229-230
How does our brain know colors and forms of objects? Miceli G, Fouch E, Capasso R, Shelton JR., Tomaiuolo F, Bucci M, Caramazza A. “The dissociation of colour from form and function knowledge.” Nature Neuroscience 2001 Jun;4(6): 662-7.