What are neuro-fluid interfaces?

Our bodies are filled with circulating fluids—blood, cerebrospinal fluid, lymph—that carry nutrients, hormones, and other signals. Neuro-fluid interfaces are the places where the nervous system comes into direct contact with these fluids, allowing cells to detect their chemical cues and release signals that influence the body in return.

Why are they important and interesting?

Neuro-fluid interfaces help regulate core body functions—maintaining fluid balance, keeping blood pressure in check, and coordinating immune responses. Disrupted signaling at these sites has been linked to conditions such as chronic pain, metabolic disease, and neuroinflammation.

These interfaces are especially fascinating because so many cell types converge here—neurons, glia, endothelial cells, immune cells, and ependymal cells—forming dense networks of communication. They reveal how neurons can interact with other cells in ways that go beyond traditional synaptic and neurovascular interactions.

What do we want to know?
We want to understand how these interfaces function—identifying the key cell types, mapping the signals they exchange, and tracing how those signals drive physiology and behavior. We’re also interested in how these networks might fail and contribute to diseases. 

How do we study them?
We study these interfaces from molecules to whole organisms. We use mouse genetics and AAV-based tools to label and manipulate specific cells, transcriptional profiling and biochemical methods to identify key protein components and signaling pathways, slice electrophysiology and imaging to track cellular activity, pharmacological and knockout approaches to perturb the system, and whole-body assays to connect these signals to physiology and behavior.