The importance and complexity of neuroimmunology in health and disease is increasingly recognized. In the context of disease and injury to the nervous system, immune cells impact the extent of damage, the speed at which regeneration can occur, and the efficacy of tissue repair.  

Moreover, some of the earliest pathological events in neurodegenerative diseases involve changes to resident and circulating immune cell populations, implicating these cells as either instigators or reflectors of primary damage.  

Recent evidence suggests that mutations in genes with enriched expression in immune cells are some of the strongest risk factors for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, indicating a causative role in the pathology of these diseases. Together, these findings have encouraged the development of therapeutics aimed at manipulating the actions of immune cells to identify biomarkers that reflect their activity. Progress in both these areas depends on our ability to study immune cell functions, including their interactions with other cells in the tissue.  

This collection will highlight techniques for isolating immune cell populations for multi-modal interrogation and their employment in ex vivo models such as organoids or microfluidic chips. We also hope to touch on methods to study their morphology and cellular interactions, such as employing genetic tools for sparse labeling alongside tissue processing and imaging techniques that facilitate capturing spatial information at both scale and super-resolution. Ultimately, we aim to highlight genetic and pharmacological interventions that can be used to modify and observe the functions of these cells.