Event Report: Neuroimmunology Symposium

Carla Rothlin
Yale University
eLife Senior Editor

Beth Stevens
Boston Children’s Hospital
eLife Reviewing Editor

Irene Salinas
University of New Mexico

Dr. Salinas is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in Biology at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Salinas obtained her PhD at the University of Murcia, Spain. Dr. Salinas' laboratory investigates neuroimmune interactions in non-model organisms such as teleost fish. She also has a long-standing interest in host-microbiota interactions and mucosal immune systems in fish. Dr. Salinas is actively engaged in making science more equal and inclusive to all via initiatives such as #BlackInImmuno.

Michelle Monje
Stanford University

Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford and completed her residency training in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School Partners program, and then returned to Stanford for a clinical fellowship in paediatric neuro-oncology and postdoctoral fellowship in developmental and cancer biology. Dr. Monje is recognized as an international leader in the pathophysiology of glioma, especially diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG)/H3K27M-mutated diffuse midline gliomas and a pioneer in the emerging field of Cancer Neuroscience. Her clinical focus is on childhood glial malignancies and cognitive impairment after childhood cancer therapy. Her laboratory studies neuron-glial interactions in health and disease, with a particular focus on mechanisms and consequences of neuron-glial interactions in health, glial dysfunction in cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment and neuron-glial interactions in malignant glioma. Together with these basic studies, her research program has advanced preclinical studies of novel therapeutics for paediatric high-grade gliomas and cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment in order to translate new therapies to the clinic. She has led several of her discoveries from basic molecular work to clinical trials for children and young adults with brain tumours.

Asya Rolls
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

Asya Rolls is an Associate Prof. at the Rappaport Medical School, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. She is also an International Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-Wellcome investigator. Rolls studies the physiological mechanisms whereby emotions and thoughts affect physical health. Her laboratory uses chemogenetic, optical, and behavioural approaches to investigate how specific brain activity affects the immune response. By deciphering the neuronal pathways mediating brain-immune signals, her work aims to harness the brain’s therapeutic potential.

Saul Villeda
University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Saul Villeda obtained his B.S. in Physiological Sciences from the University of California Los Angeles and his PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. At Stanford, he investigated how systemic changes in aging blood contribute to age-related impairments in neural stem cell function and cognitive processes. Dr. Villeda went on to start his independent career at the University of California San Francisco as a Sandler Faculty Fellow, now an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Associate Director of the Bakar Aging Research Institute, where his team investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying rejuvenation of the aging brain.

Isaac Chiu
Harvard Medical School

Isaac Chiu is Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chiu’s research focus is neuroimmune interactions in host defence and inflammation. He found that nociceptor neurons directly detect bacteria to produce pain. These neurons signal to immune and epithelial cells in the skin and gut to mediate barrier immunity. Defining neuroimmune signalling could produce treatments for pain and infection. Dr. Chiu received his PhD at Harvard Medical School and postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Chiu received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative Ben Barres Award, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Pathogenesis Award.