Abstract

Why is it that people with inflammatory disease are more prone to become depressed? Even prior to diagnosis? Our innate immune system is constantly surveilling the body for pathogens and sending signals to the brain. We have all experienced the unpleasant symptoms of an influenza or the common cold, including nausea, fever, fatigue, social withdrawal, and decreased mood. This is an evolutionary preserved mechanism, signaled by the immune system to the brain, meant to aid us in combating infection. In this seminar, we will explore how the innate immune system signals to the brain in health and disease to regulate mood, and how it might play a role in affective diseases, such as depression.

Short bio

Anna M. Klawonn, PhD. is an AIAS-DANDRITE fellow and Associate professor at the Department of Biomedicine and a group leader at DANDRITE, the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience at Aarhus University. Her research evolves around deciphering the neural circuits and immune-to-brain signaling mechanisms involved in regulating affective state during disease. For this her lab is exploring the function of several brain circuits and neural populations (such as microglia and astrocytes); and they are specialized in striato-nigral and mesolimbic connectivity. Her lab team is particularly focused on exploring the mechanisms underlying major depressive disorder and Parkinson's Disease, using state-of-the-art neurocircuitry techniques to find new ways for improving the diagnosis and treatment of affective diseases.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Sofia Bentsen at sofia@aias.au.dk by 9:00am on the day of the semimar as the latest to request a link.