Welcome

In Europe about 650,000 patients die from strokes each year and a similar number suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS). Both disorders have a marked neuroinflammatory response in common, while the relative importance of the innate and adaptive immunity seems to differ. The two arms of the immune system are linked by myeloid cells, i.e. resident microglia and invading bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM). Intriguingly, myeloid cells exert both detrimental and beneficial effects in the brain, while the underlying mechanisms are largely unclear.

The Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) nEUROinflammation funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)  for Research and Technological Development (2007-2013) will search for strategies to modulate myeloid cell behaviour in the brain for therapeutic purposes. This study will include the blood-brain barrier (BBB) as the gate-keeper that controls the invasion of myeloid cells. A unique feature of this ITN is to combine stroke and MS research in order to release synergies between the fields and to provide a comprehensive picture of neuroinflammation. By employing a range of experimental and translational techniques this ITN aims at one goal: to modulate basic neuroinflammatory mechanisms for the treatment of neurological diseases.

Sixteen partners from the academic and private sector with complementary scientific background join forces to train 13 Early Stage Researcher (ESRs) in neuroinflammatory concepts and technologies that are valid across specific disease entities. Starting on October 1^st 2013, nEUROinflammation runs for four years.