School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga

BioMS Centre:

PI/Co-PI:  Joao Cerqueira

Team members (name, position and contact e-mail):

Ana Mendanha Falcao, Assistant Researcher, amfalcao@med.uminho.pt

Claudia Nobrega, Assistant Researcher, claudianobrega@med.uminho.pt

Fernanda Marques, Assistant Researcher, fmarques@med.uminho.pt

João do Canto, Postdoctoral Researcher, b7884@med.uminho.pt

Bernardo Silva, Affiliated Researcher, 0210bernardosilva@gmail.com

Alice Vieira, Master student, uc2019222840@student.uc.pt

Henrique Alves Gomes, Master student, pg49121@alunos.uminho.pt

The interplay between the immune and the nervous system ensures the maintenance of a healthy nervous system by ensuring immune surveillance, protection from pathogenic microbes and toxins, and clearance of endogenous toxic compounds that are formed in the normal aging process. An inadequate relationship between these systems often leads to pathological inflammation and neurodegeneration, contributing to many relevant neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis or inflammatory polyneuropathy. Despite its importance, the study of the inflammatory and immunological processes in the central and peripheral nervous tissue, both in health and in disease, remains poorly understood and unexplored.
In our research team we aim at exploring the interaction between immunity, inflammation and neurodegeneration, approaching the topic from multiple dimensions. Our efforts will be centered not only in the study of the immune cells but also in the structures of interface (choroid plexus, blood brain/nerve barrier, glymphatics) as well as in the contribution of resident glial cell responses for the regulation of inflammation.