How blood proteins and immune cells cross into the brain
Molecular tools to decipher communication across the blood-brain barrier
This project is developing molecular tags to track which blood proteins and immune cells enter the adult brain to improve understanding of brain health and treatment delivery.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | J. David Gladstone Institutes NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11160662 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will create and use molecular tagging methods to label proteins in blood plasma and follow where those proteins go in the brain. They will look for three routes of communication: proteins carried directly from blood into brain tissue, proteins produced by the blood-brain barrier itself that act inside the brain, and immune cells allowed to migrate across the barrier. Experiments will combine tagged-blood approaches with molecular and imaging analyses to map these routes in healthy adult brains. The goal is to reveal how the BBB actively enables certain blood-to-brain signals, which is important for understanding disease and drug delivery.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults aged 21 and older who are willing to donate blood samples or participate in research on brain-blood communication would be the most relevant participants.
Not a fit: People seeking an immediate clinical treatment or cure for a specific neurological disease are unlikely to receive direct therapeutic benefit from this basic-science project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal new pathways to deliver therapies into the brain and suggest targets to preserve or restore brain health.
How similar studies have performed: Previous molecular and animal studies have hinted that some proteins and cells cross the BBB, but the tagging-and-tracking methods proposed here are novel and exploratory.
Where this research is happening
San Francisco, United States
- J. David Gladstone Institutes — San Francisco, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Yang, Andrew Chris — J. David Gladstone Institutes
- Study coordinator: Yang, Andrew Chris
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.