1st UK and Ireland Blood-Brain Barrier Symposium

Dr Nacho Romero, Open University, was the host for the 1st UK & Ireland Early Career BBB Symposium. The BBB Symposium was held on the 25th of November 2011 at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. The keynote presentation for this symposium was given by Professor Joan Abbott, King’s College London. The symposium program is listed below:

10.30 -11.00                        Coffee and registration

11.00-11.10                         Welcome

                                                     Nacho Romero, The Open University

11.10-11.50                         Keynote Lecture

                                                     The Blood-Brain Barrier, past, present and future. Joan Abbott, King’s College London

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11.50-13.30                         Session 1: Cellular interactions at the blood brain barrier

                                                     Chair: Larisa Mihoreanu, King’s College London

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                                                     Investigating interactions between human neural stem cells and brain endothelial cells in co-culture systems. Chung-Hsing                                                             (Tony) Chou, KCL Institute of Psychiatry

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                                                     Development of a three-dimensional model to study astrocyte-endothelial cell interactions. Sreekanth Reddy, The Open                                                                  University

12.30-13.30                         Lunch

1.30-14.50                            Session 2: Inflammation at the blood brain barrier

                                                     Chair: Dongsheng Wu, The Open University

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                                                     Sex dimorphism in inflammation: a role for Annexin A1 in mediating oestrogen effects on the blood-brain barrier. Enrico                                                                    Cristante, William Harbey Research Institute, QMUL

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                                                     Cytokine-induced miR-155 regulates brain endothelial permeability. Alejandro Lopez, Open University

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                                                     An endothelial JNK-paxillin pathway regulates VE-cadherin internalisation and ICAM-1-mediated lymphocy te migration.                                                               Natalie Hudson, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology

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                                                     Role of microRNAs in leukocyte adhesion to human brain endothelial cells. Camilla Cerutti, The Open University

14.50-15.20                         Tea

                                                     Session 3: Transporters at the blood brain barrier and drug delivery

                                                     Chair: David Dickens, University of Liverpool

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                                                     The role of the two drug efflux pumps in refractory epilepsy. Steffen Radisch, University of Liverpool

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                                                     L-arginine, ADMA and the blood-brain barrier – Paradox no more. Mehmet Fidanboylu, King’s College London

                                                     An investigation of antiepileptic drug transport by the solute carrier transporter family. Hayley Jones, University of Liverpool

                                                     Functionalised carbon nanotubes for brain delivery in-vivo. Tzu-Wen Wang, King’s College London

16.40-17.00                         General discussion and concluding remarks