Scientific:

There are 2 current main project directions going on in the lab and 1 planned for the future.  These include: 1) Brain-reactive autoantibodies (BRAA) and neurobehavioral manifestations.  These projects investigate how the immune system can alter normal brain functioning and, in turn, contribute to alterations of mental functioning.  There are three sub-projects under this topic: a) BRAA and Behavior - This tests the autoantibody hypothesis of mental dysfunction by correlating behavioral manifestations of autoimmune mice with BRAA.  It is also closely related to the next two projects.  b) Predictive Peptide Microarray - This project is a collaborative effort to use a peptide microarray to determine if there are predictive autoantibodies that can be used for diagnosing disease and mental disorders long before they appear.  It is also designed to characterize the BRAA.  c) Phage Display - this project plans to use a phage display library of the brain, in conjunction with the hybridoma technology, in order to characterize the specificity of the BRAA.  2) Immune response in the brain - if the immune system is to affect brain and mental function, then it must have access to the brain.  These projects study this access:  a) Adhesion molecules and brain - investigate the expression and role of various adhesion molecules in the brain, including the role of MHC in blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in autoimmunity, and its potential role in affecting behavior.  b) Substance P and autoimmunity - this study investigates whether substance P and its receptor can alter BBB permeability during autoimmune disease, or contribute to the etiology of the disease.  c) Receptor changes in the brain - studies whether there are alterations in brain receptors in autoimmunity which could explain alterations of neural functioning.  3) Alternative perspectives.  Some of these projects have been studied in the past in our lab and are planned for future research:   a) Psychosocial influences on Autoimmunity - will investigate what effects psychosocial factors (such as stress) have on an autoimmune disease and whether these effects can be ameliorated. b) Alternative Therapies - is planned to investigate the use of micro-quantities of cytokines in altering the immune response and alleviating or eliminating autoimmune disease.

Philosophic:

Our philosophic research is tied to our scientific project goals.  1)  The Immunologic Self.  We primarily study autoimmunity, which is the immune system attacking self.  The question is, "What exactly is the self?"  This is investigated from both philosophical and immunologic perspectives.  It also has implications for science, technology and ethics, in the area of human enhancement and the ideology of transhumanism.  2) INP and the Mind-Brain Relation. Immunoneuropsychology (INP) studies how the mind, brain and immune system are related.  There are, however, no clear theoretical or conceptual foundations for this area of science.  These topics take us into the philosophy of mind and the issue of what is the relation between consciousness and brain processes?  We investigate this from the perspective of INP and philosophy.  It also has societal and ethical implications for topics such as cognitive and emotional enhancement.    3) INP and Well being - this is a planned project to investigate the connections between virtue, well being and the technological enhancement of human beings.  One aspect of this project is to better understand what is happiness and in what way can it impact health and well-being.  This will be tied to our empirical research on "psychosocial influences on autoimmunity" described above.