Grand Challenge Workshop
Neuroimmunology and Brain Clearance:
An Integrated Biology of CNS Homeostasis
October 13-17, 2027
Director: Jonathan Kipnis
Washington University School of Medicine, Seattle, USA
Faculty:
Marco Colonna, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Richard Daneman, University of California, San Diego, USA
Maiken Nedergaard, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA & University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Tony Wyss-Coray, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, USA
Jeffrey J. Iliff, Washington University School of Medicine, Seattle, USA
Anne Eichmann, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA
Brain clearance and neuroimmunology are closely intertwined. The pathways that clear waste from the central nervous system also transport antigens and support immune surveillance, while immune cells regulate fluid drainage and clearance at the brain’s borders. This Workshop will bring together experts in cerebrospinal fluid dynamics, meningeal lymphatics, brain barriers, and neuroimmunology to examine how these processes shape one another in health, aging, and neurological disease. Through discussion of emerging findings and unresolved questions, we will explore how this relationship might be harnessed to restore brain homeostasis and guide new therapeutic approaches.