Details About the Webinar

This joint Lancet Webinar with Cell Press is now available to view on-demand. Access is free with registration.

Innate immunity is the body's first line of defence against infections and injury. In the central nervous system, it is crucial for protecting against pathogens and clearing damaged tissue, while maintaining neural function. However, chronic innate immune activation can contribute to neuroinflammation.

During this webinar, our expert speakers:

  • Provide an accessible overview of the importance of innate immunity in the development of neurological diseases, including interferonopathies, multiple sclerosis, and neurodegenerative diseases.

  • Review potential therapeutic targets to protect neurons from inflammation-induced neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis.

  • Discuss common features of innate immunity across neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, and the neuroimmune interactions that can propagate neurotoxicity.

  • Examine the triggers of these mechanisms in neurons and glia.

About the Speakers

1756983027-c6f1ed5576c4b0cc Elena Becker-Barroso
Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet Neurology, UK

Elena Becker-Barroso became Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Neurology in July 2012 after serving as Acting Editor for one year, two years as Deputy Editor, and three years as Senior Editor for the journal. She earned her PhD in Molecular Biology from the Instituto de Microbiologia-Bioquimica, CSIC-Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) and did her postdoctoral training at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University (USA).

1756983232-975ee5b0cfebb66f Sam Rose
Scientific Editor, Neuron, USA

Sam Rose received his PhD in Neuroscience from Emory University (USA), studying movement disorders. He then worked as a post-doc at Duke University (USA), studying neuropsychopharmacology and G-protein coupled receptors. He has been a Scientific Editor at Neuron since 2019.

1759242436-07d9b8b812c3ce61 David Hunt
Professor of Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK

David Hunt is a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow and Consultant Neurologist who leads clinics and research in the field of brain inflammation. He trained in medicine and neuroscience in Cambridge, London, and Switzerland. David leads multiple sclerosis and neuroinflammation services in Edinburgh and directs related research at the Anne Rowling Clinic. His laboratory work is funded by the Wellcome Trust and UK Dementia Research Institute and studies how aberrant activation of innate immunity causes brain diseases, with a particular focus on antiviral immunity and the type I interferon response.

1759242914-b00920b924ba8ae6 Andrea Ablasser
Professor, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Born in Germany, Andrea Ablasser studied Medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (Germany) and earned her MD in 2010. After postdoctoral work at the University of Bonn (Germany), she joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland) as Professor in 2014. Amongst several distinctions, Andrea is a recipient of the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, the William B. Coley Prize, the EMBO Gold Medal, and the National Latsis Prize. In 2025, she was named a Citation Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (Clarivate) and has since been named "highly Cited Researcher" (Clarivate Analytics) in 2020. Andrea is an elected member of EMBO and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She is a scientific co-founder of IFM-Due, which has developed immunomodulatory medicine and was acquired by Novartis in 2024. Andrea is studying the mechanisms of innate immunity. She played a major role in deciphering how cells respond to intracellular DNA as a signal of infection via the so-called cGAS-STING pathway - a fundamental mechanism of immunity that evolved in bacteria billions of years ago. Apart from its beneficial role in pathogen defence, recognition of DNA is implicated in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases, including neurodegenerative disease and autoimmunity. Andrea's current research focuses on understanding molecular rules that govern the termination and control of innate immune responses. Using this insight, she is investigating the roles of innate immunity in contexts of disease and exploring novel therapeutic paradigms for cancer immunotherapy.

1759243284-8468ceca0bae734f Manuel Friese
Professor of Neurology and Director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

Manuel Friese studied medicine at University of Hamburg (Germany), University of Oxford (UK), and University College London (UK), receiving his MD in 2001. He completed his neurology training at the University of Tübingen (Germany) and University of Hamburg (Germany). After completing his postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford (UK), from 2004-2008, he established his laboratory as an Emmy Noether research fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE, Germany). Since 2013, he has been a consultant neurologist and Professor of Neurology at the UKE, and since 2014, has served as the Director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS). Since 2025, he has also served as Director of the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH, Germany). His laboratory focuses on the inflammatory and neurodegenerative aspects of neuroimmunological and neuroinfectious diseases.

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