Tissue resident immune cells in the brain

A third area of laboratory focus with growing emphasis is neuroimmunology, often performed in collaboration with the AV Molofsky lab at UCSF Mission Bay Campus. Although microglia, the brain-resident macrophages, impact normal neuronal circuit development, as well as shaping beneficial and pathologic responses during neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, the role of brain-resident lymphocytes and their lymphocyte-derived immune signals (cytokines) is largely unknown. We study the regulation and function of lymphocytes in the brain, including work on meningeal type 2 lymphocytes (ILC2) and how these lymphocytes impact both neurons and glia to regulate neuronal circuits and synapse formation and remodeling. We are also studying how brain damage and perturbation alters fibroblast-immune brain border niches to impact temporally dynamic brain stromal-immune functional responses across a spectrum of brain injury, infection, and diseased states. We hope to ultimately decode these CNS borders in space and time, with a particular effort to understand and therapeutically target dynamic border fibroblasts and their functionally critical immune crosstalk.