Description:

***To request acsess to the zoom link, contact pharm@northwestern.edu***

Title: "Illuminating choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid contributions to brain development and lifelong brain health."
Abstract: The choroid plexus (ChP) epithelium is located in each ventricle in the brain. It produces cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and secretes important health and growth promoting factors for the brain throughout life. In addition to these secretory functions, the ChP forms a critical brain barrier implicated in coordinating inflammatory responses in a growing number of acute and chronic neurologic conditions ranging from viral illness to age-associated neurodegenerative disease. We have developed tools and strategies for tracking ChP involvement in models of viral and bacterial inflammation during brain development. We have also extended these analyses to the adult brain, where two-photon imaging has further enabled the real-time tracking of a tightly choreographed ChP response, coordinated largely by ChP epithelial cells, to address and resolve central nervous system inflammation. We anticipate that shared mechanisms are engaged to varying degrees across neurologic diseases where persisting inflammation plays an important role including in Alzheimer’s disease. Our work suggests the ChP acts as a key regulator of brain health throughout life.

 
Speaker: Maria K. Lehtinen, PhD; Professor & Hannah C. Kinney MD, Chair; Pediatric Pathology Research; Harvard University.