Abstract

Since 1999, the Barriers of the CNS Gordon Research Conference has played an integral role in bringing together, maintaining, and shaping a multidisciplinary international group of world-wide scientists and clinicians that have a genuine interest in brain barriers in health and disease. As such, one enduring characteristic of this conference has been to bring together a broad spectrum of ever-evolving disciplines that, together, can yield significant advances in the study of brain barriers. With this in mind, the keynote lectures of the 2018 Gordon Conference on Barriers of the CNS will address the role of brain barriers in maintaining the immune privilege of the CNS. The conference will further highlight novel cellular and molecular aspects of brain barriers in health and disease based on intravital microscopy, mathematical modeling, and bioinformatic tools. A novel online platform allowing facilitated data-mining of the brain barriers transcriptomes, the BBBHub, will be introduced to the community. Rounding out the conference will be sessions on the role of brain barriers in development and in neurological disorders, as well as novel concepts for drug delivery across the BBB. In keeping with the tradition of the brain barriers research field, this conference will bring together leading researchers from different disciplines with relevance to the brain barriers. The conference will be ideal for junior scientists to discuss their work with the leaders in the field, either in poster or short podium presentations. Ample discussion time following each presentation has been scheduled and many opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings will allow the Conference to provide a unique framework for brainstorming and promoting new ideas and novel collaborations.