Understanding the regulation of inflammasomes in brain injury and disease Event

Abstract: Inflammation is known to contribute to the worsening of acute cerebrovascular, and chronic neurodegenerative diseases. Understanding mechanisms of inflammation may identify new therapeutic targets for the treatment of these devastating diseases. Inflammasomes are key regulators of inflammation. Inflammasomes are multi-molecular complexes that catalyse the activation and secretion of pro-inflammatory members of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) family of cytokines. IL-1 is known to contribute to the worsening of acute cerebrovascular disease and the NLRP3 inflammasome is suggested to contribute to cognitive decline in models of dementia. Thus my lab is interested in the regulation of inflammasomes and how they can be targeted in disease. I will present an overview of our recent and latest work highlighting the advances being made in the basic biology of inflammasome activation and IL-1 secretion. I will also discuss our efforts to target inflammasomes including drug repurposing strategies, and the development of completely new inhibitors.