How the immune, endocrine and nervous systems interact is not well understood. It also remains mysterious how these interactions influence behavioral outcomes such as cognition, emotion and addiction. The Bilbo Lab focuses on these big questions, conducting studies of neuro-immune interactions in brain development in pre-clinical models. We also collaborate with clinical research groups to translate our findings to human populations.

We are particularly interested in the role of immune molecules in both normal and disrupted brain development, based on evidence from human and animal studies that immune system dysfunction or inflammation may be critical in a number of neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia, cognitive and mood disorders, and autism. A particular focus is on the resident immune cells of the brain, microglia, including their development and function in response to early life inflammatory signals.