The Biomedical Research Institute of Southern California

Viral immunologythe objective of this program is to conduct Research into The mechanisms by which The immune system protects against viral infections. This Research will help us to develop better vaccines and therapeutic agents for viral infections. This program includes pre-clinical work on a novel universal influenza vaccine, The mechanism by which it protects against multiple strains of influenza and whether The vaccine protects against secondary bacterial infections often increase mortality from influenza. We are also investigating novel vaccine adjuvants and why immune responses to certain vaccines wane over time.

The blood brain barrierthe blood-brain barrier (bbb) prevents bloodborne substances from non-selectively crossing into The brain and plays a crucial role in protecting The brain from harmful substances and pathogens. However, The bbb also significantly impedes The delivery of therapeutic agents into The brain which presents a major challenge for The targeting and delivery of pharmacological agents for The treatment of various central nervous system (cns) diseases, including cancers, hiv infection and alzheimer's disease. Brisc scientists are studying The role of The bbb in health and disease and are conducting collaborative studies on novel methods of reversibly permeabilizing The bbb to allow entry of therapeutic agents.

Diabetesthe goal of this program is to identify unique events and molecular pathways that can trigger The autoreactive t cells to cause destruction of The pancreatic islets in type 1 diabetes. The role of exosomes and novel self-antigens encoded by endogenous retroviruses is a major focus of this study.