Dean’s Seminar Series featuring Dorian McGavern, PhD – “How Infections Influence Repair in the Damaged Brain”

Dean’s Seminar Series

Dorian McGavern, PhD
Senior Investigator
Viral Immunology and Intravital Imaging Section
NINDS, NIH

Title & Abstract:

“How Infections Influence Repair in the Damaged Brain”

The central nervous system (CNS) is inhabited by a specialized ensemble of myeloid cells that are highly dynamic and survey their immediate surroundings, which include the parenchyma, perivascular spaces, pia mater, dura mater, and choroid plexus. These cells are long-lived, help maintain homeostasis, participate in reparative responses following injury, and protect the CNS from invading microbes. The CNS is also surveyed and sometimes invaded by circulating, blood-derived myeloid cells that can contribute to diametrically opposed outcomes, like vascular breakdown vs. repair, depending on the inflammatory context. This lecture will focus on recent developments in our understanding of CNS myeloid cells, both resident and blood derived. It will showcase the mechanisms by which different subsets of myeloid cells repair injured blood vessels in the brain and demonstrate how systemic infections encountered after injury disrupt this reparative program.