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How brain barriers orchestrate CNS immune privilege
Central nervous system (CNS) neurons govern every aspect of physiology, demanding an exceptionally tightly controlled environment. To preserve tissue homeostasis, the CNS has develop a unique rlationship with the immune system restrictsing conventional immune surveillance to CNS border compartments. How this CNS immune privilege is established, maintained, and dynamically regulated remains a fundamental question in neuroimmunology. We have proposed that the brain barriers divide the CNS into different compartments with different access for immune mediators and immune cells. To test this hypothesis we have developed novel reporter mouse models that enable direct visualization of the different brain barriers and borders in vivo. Leveraging these border reporter mice together with state-of-the-art intravital imaging, we found that different brain barriers precisely control immune mediator distributaion and immune cell migration in the CNS during immune surveillance and neuroinflammation. These findings shape our understanding of how brain barriers orchestrate CNS immune privilege and how failure of brain barrier function will contribute to neurological disorders. This knowledge will provide a foundation for targeted therapeutic strategies in neurological and neuroinflammatory diseases.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Since 2003 Britta Engelhardt is Professor for Immunobiology and Director of the Theodor Kocher Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland. After studying Human Biology at the Philipps-University, Marburg in Germany she pursued her PhD thesis with Prof. Hartmut Wekerle at the Max-Planck Research Group for Multiple Sclerosis in Würzburg, Germany and the Max-Planck Institute für Psychiatry in Munich, Germany and obtained a PhD (Dr. rer. physiol.) in January 1991. After a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Eugene C. Butcher at Stanford University, California, she set up her own research group at the Max-Planck Institute for Physiological and Clinical Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany in the department of Werner Risau in 1993. In 1998 she obtained the Venia Legendi for Immunology and Cell Biology from the Medical Faculty of the Philipps University Marburg, Germany. From 1999 to 2003 she headed her independent research group at the same institute and the Max-Planck Institute for Vascular Cell Biology in Münster, Germany.
Britta Engelhardt is a renowned expert in brain barriers research. Her work is dedicated to understanding the role of the brain barriers in maintaining central nervous system (CNS) immune privilege. Using advanced in vitro and in vivo live cell imaging approaches her laboratory has significantly contributed to the current understanding of the anatomical routes and molecular mechanisms used by immune cells to enter the CNS during immune surveillance and neuroinflammation. She has published over 300 manuscripts that are highly cited. She is an opinion leader in her field as shown by her regular presentations as invited and keynote speaker at international meetings.
Britta Engelhardt has served the scientific community by coordinating several national (Sinergia UnmetMS, ProDoc Cell Migration) and international collaborative networks (JUSTBRAIN, BtRAIN) dedicated to brain barriers research and neuroinflammation. Together with Peter Vajkoczy she has received the Herman-Rein-Prize for their pioneering in vivo imaging of T cell migration across cervical spinal cord microvessels. She was elected Vice-Chair and Chair of the Gordon Research Conference Barriers of the CNS in 2016 and 2018, respectively. In 2023 she has obtained the Malpighi Award of the European Society for Microcirculation (ESM). In 2024 she was honored by the Keynote Lecture Award from the Journal of Comparative Pathology Education Trust ESVP/ECVP and the Camillo Golgi Lecture from the European Academy of Neurology and the nomination as member of AcademiaNet – The Portal to Excellent Women Academics. In 2025 besides receiving the Research Prize of the Swiss MS Society she has been awarded an prestigious ERC Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). She presently serves as president of the International Brain Barriers Society.
Date:
6 February 2026, 13:00
Venue:
Sherrington Library, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details:
Sherrington Building
Speaker:
Professor Britta Engelhardt (University of Bern)
Organising department:
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organisers:
Dr Thomas Keeley (DPAG, University of Oxford),
Dr Mootaz Salman (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
events@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Dr Mootaz Salman (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of:
DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Hannah Simm
