The nervous and immune systems govern the interactions between living organisms and the world around them : they regulate the various aspects of these interactions, from sensory perception to the response to viral infections, right through to the conditions of living in symbiosis with the microorganisms that make up the microbiota.

While these two major systems have traditionally been studied separately, numerous studies in recent years have highlighted the importance of cross-regulation of neuro-immunity. These can be observed at both cellular and molecular levels, and reveal a constant dialogue between the nervous and immune systems. To give just a few examples : the roles of immune cells in brain development, physiology and pathology, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's ; the effects of viral or bacterial infections and microbiota on brain function throughout life ; the placebo effect, which can influence certain immune responses. How do these new scientific findings modify our vision of brain function, and of the body in general ? How can studies on normal physiology help us to better understand diseases ? How can these scientific findings be integrated into a scientific and rational conceptual framework ?

The aim of this Chair is to present these advances and discuss these new studies, which constitute an emerging field, based on fundamental and applied research. Characterizing these neuro-immune interactions is a source of hope, and potentially illusions, for the development of new therapeutic approaches targeting different pathologies. That's why it's vital to place scientific facts at the heart of the discussion, to clarify what has been established in animal models, but remains to be explored in humans, in order to accompany the progression of knowledge and understanding in a rational way.

Since 2020, Sonia Garel has held the Neurobiology and the Immune SystemChair. Her research focuses on the development of brain circuits, both from a fundamental point of view and as applied to the understanding of certain pathologies. Her work has led her to decipher the role of cell migration and transient interactions in brain development, with a focus on the brain's resident immune cells, the microglia.