Brain-Immune system interactions in physiology, infection or inflammation

Team 3I Brain is interested in studying the immune system with all its components including the primary lymphoid organs (bone marrow and thymus) secondary lymphoid organs (spleen and lymph nodes), peripheral immune cells and cytokines and their effect on brain development from premature babies to adolescence; I) in physiological conditions studying its essential role in wiring and clearing bad connections to ensure healthy brain development, and II) in case of infection and inflammation and its impact on damaging brain wiring while still in development, especially in early stages and its risk in developing neurological diseases such as NDD and autism.

Research Objectives

1. To characterize immune and immunometabolic mechanisms associated with normal, atypical, or pathological brain development in the context of peri/ postnatal infection or inflammation.
2. To develop biomarkers for diagnosis, stratification, and prognosis in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and immunoneurological diseases.
3. To design preventive or curative therapeutic strategies—general common pathway, targeted, or precision medecin—to protect brain development or restore brain dysfunctions.

Methodologies

Through a translational research approach, the team will address these objectives by combining multi-modal studies (conventional and spectral multiplex flow cytometry, spatial transcriptomics & proteomics, bioenergetics, multiplex imaging) and various preclinical models and international patient cohorts.