Using mouse and computer model experiments, researchers identified thousands of molecular interactions — most not previously known — between pain-initiating neurons, or nociceptors, and different types of immune cells. These interactions could help explain why pain hypersensitivity sometimes occurs during inflammation — and could also help researchers resolve it.

HMS News article on new research from Mike Greenberg and colleagues, co-first authors Xin Gu and Christopher Nardone, identifying a protein called midnolin that plays a key role in degrading many short-lived nuclear proteins. The study shows that midnolin does so by directly grabbing the proteins and pulling them into the cellular waste-disposal system, called the proteasome, where they are destroyed.

HMS News article on new research from Francisco Quintana and colleagues, first author, Liliana M. Sanmarco, designing a probiotic suppressing autoimmunity in the mouse brain, a condition that occurs when the immune system attacks the cells of the central nervous system. This technique offers a more precise way to target brain inflammation and minimizes negative side effects when compared with standard therapies.

The lab of Stephen Liberles was featured in Science News for their recent paper illuminating how the brain becomes aware that there is an infection in the body.

HMS News on a new study from Isaac Chiu, Judy Lieberman, and colleagues, co-first authors Dylan V. Neel and Himanish Basu, suggesting that inflammatory proteins in innate immune system may damage neurons and could lead to ALS.

HMS News article on new research from Isaac Chiu and colleagues, first author Felipe Pinho-Ribeiro, showing that bacteria hijack crosstalk between nerve and immune cells to cause meningitis.

Harvard Dept. of MCB News article on new research from Catherine Dulac and colleagues, first author Jessica Osterhout, showing how neurons in the brain directly read signals from the body’s immune system and how those signals alter neural circuit activity to trigger symptoms of sickness.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Matthias Nahrendorf and colleagues, co-first authors Fadi E. Pulous and Jean C. Cruz-Hernández, finding that cerebrospinal fluid (also known as “brain water”) can exit the brain into the skull’s bone marrow through tiny channels in the skull, and this may be key to detecting infection and injury.

HMS News profile on Josefina del Marmol, a newly hired assistant professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, who studies how animals detect and identify scents.

Harvard Health Publishing article outlining LATE (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy), the third most common cause of dementia in older individuals.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

HMS News article on new research from Marco Loggia and colleagues, first author Ludovica Brusaferri, suggesting that pandemic-related stressors may lead to brain inflammation in people not infected with SARS-CoV-2.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Gordon Fishell, Beth Stevens, Sandeep Robert Datta, and colleagues, first author Emilia Favuzzi, identifying the immune cells that sculpt inhibitory neurons and regulate brain wiring.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Rakesh K. Jain and colleagues, co-first authors Zohreh Amoozgar, Jonas Kloepper, and Jun Ren, retraining tumor-promoting immune cells to fight most aggressive type of brain cancer.

HMS News article highlighting a new project from Max Heiman, Keith Blackwell, and Monica Colaiácovo, looking into why some species of wild Caenorhabditis elegans are able to thrive in in high temperature environments.

HMS News article on new research from K. Frank Austen and Isaac Chiu, first author Tiphaine Voisin, suggesting that cysteine leukotriene receptor 2 (CysLT2R) may be a new target for designing treatments to target intractable chronic itch.

Brian Kalish (Greenberg lab) and Eunha Kim (Jun Huh lab) share findings from a single cell-RNA sequencing study that explores the impact of maternal immune activation (MIA) on protein synthesis in the fetal brain and reveals sex-specific effects.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Isaac Chiu and colleagues, first author Nicole Y. Lai, demonstrating in mice that the nervous system is able to detect and actively defend against Salmonella.

HMS News article on the first evidence of immune response targeting specialized brain cells in autism. From a postmortem study of human brains, from the lab of Matthew Anderson, first author Marcello DiStasio.

Harvard University has received a $20 million gift from philanthropists Lisa Yang and Hock Tan, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, to establish The Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research at Harvard Medical School.

MGH research finds chemical pathway from lack of shut-eye to atherosclerosis.

Jeffrey Holt and Nicte Mejia among four honored with Scholars in Medicine Excellence in Mentoring Award at the 79th annual Soma Weiss day.

Has your research provided a breathtaking image of the nervous system that you’d love to share with the world? Send it to HBI! You could win a $200 cash prize and have your work displayed online and/or on the walls of Harvard’s science buildings.

Postdoctoral fellows Carolyn Elya (lab of Benjamin de Bivort) and Shan Meltzer (lab of David Ginty) were awarded 2018 HHMI Hanna Gray Fellowships.

A new study from the labs of Staci Bilbo and colleagues reveals role of microglia in adolescent development different for males, females.

HMS News article about recent research from the team of Matthias Nahrendorf and colleagues discovering channels connecting skull bone marrow to brain surface.