Join us on Tuesday, March 31st at 11:00am ET

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Webinar Title: Immunological Defense of Dynamic Vascular Barriers in the CNS

Experimental models of inflammation are critical for understanding how peripheral immune activation influences the human brain. In this talk, we present work developing and characterising interferon-beta (IFN-β) as a safe in vivo experimental-medicine model of human inflammation. Drawing on findings from a cohort of younger and older adults, we describe the temporal dynamics of immune signalling and associated changes in brain microstructure, illustrating how peripheral cytokine activation relates to measurable neurobiological effects. We then explore the reproducibility of this model using preliminary data from an independent IFN-β challenge conducted under a closely matched protocol. Together, these findings suggest that IFN-β may offer a promising experimental platform for studying immune–brain interactions across the adult lifespan.

About the Speakers

Dr. Eva Periche-Tomas is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford, where she also holds an honorary contract as a Clinical Psychologist. She moved to Oxford after completing her PhD in Psychoneuroimmunology at CUBRIC (Cardiff University, UK) under the supervision of Professor Neil Harrison.Clinically, she specializes in depression and anxiety disorders. Her research interests lie at the intersection of experimental medicine and clinical intervention development, with a particular focus on apathy and anhedonia. Her current work primarily uses experimental medicine approaches to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying motivational impairments, with the aim of informing the development of more targeted treatments.

Prof Neil Harrison leads the Immunopsychiatry Research Group at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). Prior to moving to Cardiff, he spent 10 years in Sussex where he established the first UK Clinical Immunopsychiatry Service providing bespoke treatments for people with inflammation-associated depression. He completed his PhD in Neuroscience at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging (UCL) and undertook training in psychiatry and neurology at the Maudsley Hospital, National Hospital for Neurology, and National Society for Epilepsy. His work using an experimental medicine approach combining experimental pro- and anti-inflammatory challenges with diverse brain imaging techniques has been influential in revealing how the body's immune system acts on the brain to disrupt mood, motivation and cognition. It has contributed to the emergence of Immunopsychiatry and hopefully brought us closer to the ultimate goal of developing new immune-targeted therapies for depression. He is a past President of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, co-editor of the Textbook of Immunopsychiatry (Cambridge University Press) and currently sits on the MRC Neuroscience and Mental Health Board.  

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