Neuroimmunity

• Understand the immune system and the neuro-inflammatory responses of the brain. We take particular interest in studying the mechanisms driving glial cell activation and blood cell infiltration. 

• Based on the basic research on neuro-immunity, suggest specific targets as therapeutic options for degenerative diseases and other brain insults. 

• Disentangling the microstructural arrangement of immune-related cell-cell interactions within the brain, with especial emphasis on microglial cells, and how these interconnections are formed or altered in brain injury. 

• Blocking intercellular glia-target interactions with different anti-inflammatory strategies to allow the preservation of neurons in models of neurodegenerative diseases. 

• Interfering with intercellular contacts using neutralizing antibodies or similar strategies, to potentiate immune responses to eliminate particular cells, such as tumor cells. 

• Parkinson’s disease: They aim to understand the interactions between microglial cells and dopaminergic neurons in experimental models of Parkinson’s disease. The knowledge of these complex interfaces in vivo and in vitro will help to propose therapeutic anti-inflammatory strategies to avert or decelerate Parkinsonian degeneration. 

• Glioma: Their goal is to explore in depth the microenvironments of human glioma samples, and analyze experimental models in vivo and in vitro, in order to understand the function of immune cells, especially microglia-macrophages and lymphocytes, to achieve tumor clearance. The outcome of this project will suggest novel strategies for immunotherapy. 

The investigation that they are currently developing is focused on the immune responses in the brain. Non-neuronal cells, such as glial cells and brain- infiltrated blood cells are critically involved in the local resolution of brain injuries, covering neurodegenerative diseases and many other insults, including brain tumors. Their research interest is to unravel, at the cellular level, the function of glia and lymphocytes within the inflamed brain, and, particularly, the communication and interactions that take place between immune cells and other target cells.