Remembering Immunity, Central regulation of peripheral immune processes
Thoughts and emotions can impact physiology. This connection is evident by the emergence of disease following stress, psychosomatic disorders, or recovery in response to placebo treatment. Nevertheless, this fundamental aspect of physiology remains largely unexplored. In this talk, I will focus on the brain’s involvement in regulating the peripheral immune response and explore the question of how the brain evaluates and represents the state of the immune system it regulates.
Why we all need a good night’s sleep
We seek to determine how circadian rhythms and sleep are integrated with physiological processes to provide optimal fitness and health. Using initially a Drosophila model, and more recently also mammalian models, we have found that aspects of the blood brain barrier (BBB) are controlled by the circadian clock. BBB properties are also influenced by sleep:wake state in Drosophila, and, in fact, appear to be contribute to functions of sleep. This and other work, which implicates sleep in the regulation of metabolic processes, is providing insights into sleep function