Description:

Abstract

 Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) affects the normally well-balanced interplay of the two supersystems: the nervous and the immune system. Recent research elucidated some of the involved signals and mechanisms and, importantly, was able to demonstrate that CNS-immune interactions are highly relevant determining mortality and disability in patients after SCI. The systemic SCI-induced immune deficiency syndrome (SCI-IDS) occurs early after SCI, affects cells of the innate and adaptive immune system and increases the susceptibility to infection. Infections are the main cause of death in patients after acute and chronic SCI and qualify as independent risk-factors for poor neurological and long-term functional recovery. Infections associated with spinal cord injury (such as pneumonia and/or postoperative wound infections) impose as a potent and targetable outcome-modifying factor. Prevention of acquired infections constitutes a viable strategy to protect functional recovery and reduce mortality. Acquired infections can be considered as rehabilitation confounders in clinical trials. 

Speaker

Jan Schwab, MD PhD, is a physician-scientist and board-certified neurologist specialized on spinal cord injury (SCI). After internships at Tel Aviv and Cornell University he received his MD from the University of Tuebingen, Germany (2000) followed by a PhD from the Max Planck Research School (2003). Subsequently to his Habilitation in “Experimental Neuropathology” he was appointed as CNRS and DFG-scholarship-fellow at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France (2004-2005) and Harvard Medical School in Boston (2005-2006). In 2012 he completed a residency in neurology at the Charité - School of Medicine Berlin, Germany. In 2015 he became appointed as W.E. Hunt & WE Curtis chair at the Ohio State University. His main research interest is focused on deciphering the underlying pathomechanisms of the maladaptive immune response after CNS injury. In addition, he has an interest to develop and apply tools to improve prediction of animal models for clinical trials, reduce inherent bias and increase experimental value in SCI research.