Babies, brains and the wonders of our immune system

We are delighted to announce that Dr Staci Bilbo, Director of Research at Harvard University's Lurie Center for Autism, will be delivering our annual Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture in Neuroscience, established in honour of Professor Sir Keith Peters.

Staci's talk, Babies, brains and the wonders of our immune system, will discuss how microglia and other immune processes might hold the key to understanding not just normal brain development, but also what causes devastating disorders like autism.

Immune cells in the body are critical for keeping us healthy, but they are also critical for how the brain develops. For instance, immune cells called microglia live permanently in the brain and help guide brain development and serve as its immune system helpers by gobbling up diseased or damaged cells and discarding cellular debris.

Book your place

The free public lecture will take place on Thursday 15 March at the University’s Hadyn Ellis building.

Registration opens from 6pm, with the lecture beginning at 6.30pm. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session with the speaker and a wine reception.

Tickets are free, but attendees are required to register to secure their place.

About Dr Staci Bilbo

With a PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences from John Hopkins University, Dr Bilbo’s current research areas examine the mechanisms by which the immune and endocrine systems interact with the brain to impact health and behaviour. Laboratory research looks at understanding the consequences of events in early life, including infection, stress, environmental toxins, and maternal obesity on neural and immune system development.

After gaining her PhD, Dr Bilbo continued her training with a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She directed the Developmental Neuroimmunology Laboratory in the Department of Neuroscience at Duke University from 2007-2016, before joining the faculty at HMS in 2016.