Our goal is to dissect the mechanisms of immune-brain cross-talk and create a strong foundation for future immunotherapy approaches to neurological disease.
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Our approach encompasses scRNA-seq and other technologies of genomics, classical tools of immunology, behavioral testing, and everything else that could help us identify the mechanisms of brain immune communication.
Peripheral immune cells modulate brain activities in physiology, but they are rarely found in direct contact with the neural tissue. Similarly, microbial products can shape brain development and aging, yet no commensal bacteria are found in healthy brain. We hypothesize that such peripheral immune and microbial signals affect the brain remotely and indirectly, from its borders, anatomical structures, which separate the central nervous system from the periphery. We aim to identify mechanisms of such remote immune and microbial influence by focusing on the choroid plexus (blood-CSF barrier) and the skull marrow niche in the context of brain development and aging.
