Speaker：Zeyi Wang（王泽怡）Yaxuan Zhou（周雅轩）Chenxi Sun（孙晨曦）

Time：10:00 - 13:00

The blood brain barrier (BBB) acts as a strict control point for what can enter the brain, and is created by tight junctions between endothelial cells lining blood vessels, astrocytic end feet and a basement membrane. Barrier layers at the key interfaces between blood and neural tissue play a major role in maintaining the homeostasis of the neural microenvironment. Now we have already found that the BBB plays a key role in the neurologic disease, such as Alzheimer disease (AD) and Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In addition, for the drugs recirculating in blood which aim at the target inside the brain, the ability to cross the blood brain barrier is considered to be essential. Blood-brain barrier is key to regulating circadian rhythm, while its breakdown is an early biomarker of human cognitive dysfunction. In the following papers, we can have a general understanding on the blood brain barrier (BBB) by reading the review 1&2, and then have a detailed look at the influence that BBB exerts on neurodegenerative disorders and the human cognitive dysfunction and human biorhythm.

Banks, William A. "From blood–brain barrier to blood–brain interface: new opportunities for CNS drug delivery." Nature reviews Drug discovery 15.4 (2016): 275.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2015.21

2. Maoz, Ben M., et al. "A linked organ-on-chip model of the human neurovascular unit reveals the metabolic coupling of endothelial and neuronal cells." Nature biotechnology 36.9 (2018): 865.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4226