Colin Willis presented at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Conference on the Blood-Brain Barrier

Colin Willis, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, is preparing to travel to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Conference on the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). This meeting will be held in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, December 5-8, 2012.

The purpose of the conference is to explore several aspects of the BBB including: molecular control of BBB development and function, cellular and acellular elements, retinal and other tissue barriers and the role of BBB in inflammation and disease.

Willis will be giving a presentation titled "Signaling at the neurovascular unit following transitory focal astrocyte loss and post-translational occludin modification." In this study, Willis will show that a number of coordinated cell-cell interactions come together at the neurovascular unit to limit the leak of cerebral vessels following injury and explores the role of extracellular matrix receptors to mediate these events. Undergraduate students have participated in this project.