Curbing Inflammation at Brain’s Barrier in Alzheimer’s Disease

I aim to understand the role of inflammation at the brain’s blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier in Alzheimer’s disease and how it negatively affects barrier integrity that protects the brain.

My ultimate goal is to enable treatments for Alzheimer’s disease that curb brain inflammation at the barriers separating the brain from the rest of the body, focusing on a tissue called the choroid plexus. I will apply newly developed imaging tools that enable exploration of blood-borne immune cells entering the choroid plexus in Alzheimer’s disease models and test for barrier breakdown and blood vessel leakage. The innovation from my research will launch my independent career to continue this inquiry, and benefit researchers of other inflammatory brain diseases.

The choroid plexus is a critical gateway for immune cells to gain entry to the brain. Regulation at this border may be a new way to control brain inflammation. The choroid plexus is small, deeply located within the brain, and free-floating, making it technically challenging to study and heretofore neglected in brain research. We have innovated live imaging with computational algorithms to study cell movements deep in the brain, and my study will be the first investigation of inflammation at the choroid plexus as a potential treatment target for Alzheimer’s disease.

My study will provide conceptual validation of a new research direction, support my future independent research, and raise awareness of choroid plexus inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Awareness will bring funding opportunities to encourage and support next generation researchers to pursue this topic and eventually lead to discovery of new therapies that target the immune infiltration process across the choroid plexus barrier to ensure optimal levels of immune activation sufficient to eliminate pathogens and damaged cells without causing chronic inflammation.