Deczkowska lab for Brain-Immune Communication (a.k.a. the BIC lab), est. 2021, strives to illuminate how immune cells and signals shape brain development, activity and aging. Our vision is that one day we will be able to employ these immune-to-brain communication pathways to cure neurological disease.
Peripheral immune cells modulate brain activities in physiology, but they are rarely found in direct contact with the neural tissue. Similarly, microbial products can shape brain development and aging, yet no commensal bacteria are found in healthy brain. We hypothesize that such peripheral immune and microbial signals affect the brain remotely and indirectly, from its borders, anatomical structures, which separate the central nervous system from the periphery. We aim to identify mechanisms of such remote immune and microbial influence on the brain by focusing on the choroid plexus (blood-CSF barrier) and the skull marrow niche in the context of brain development, aging and disease.
✨If you want to learn more, check out Aleks’ talk at Paris talks (in English) [link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D9BjbByuNI ], this video on our contribution to Alzheimer’s research (and get to see our lab! – en français) [link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WvZ-LXT3Wg ]