Neurobiology of Infectious Diseases

Tatiana Barichello, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is making strides in the field of immunology psychiatry. With a background in pharmacy, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the study of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. A researcher with the Translational Psychiatry Program, Barichello explores ways to apply research to clinical practice in treating mental disorders. Much of her work is performed in a lab, looking closely at cells and how they respond to “intruders,” such as bacteria and viruses that must be fought off by the immune mechanisms within the brain. “By studying inflammation and seeing the patterns in pre-clinical animal models of psychiatry,” she says, “we are finding ways to apply these insights to treating humans.” Barichello received her master’s degree in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) from Federal University of Santa Catarina and earned her PhD in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) in from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil. Prior to joining the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 2014, she was director of Pharmacy Faculty and professor of Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences at the University of Southern Santa Catarina, Criciúma, SC, Brazil. In addition, Barichello has been over 100 publications and has received several grants as a principal investigator. Dr. Felipe Dal-Pizzol’s research efforts are focused on translational research in sepsis, mainly on the mechanisms of brain dysfunction, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. He has ongoing collaborative studies in other research areas such as the biology of psychiatric disease. I have authored more than 320 peer-reviewed publications and specifically, in the sepsis field more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. During the last years, He has been an associated editor of some peer-reviewed scientific journals such as PLoS One, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, Brazilian Journal of Intensive Care and Intensive Care Medicine Experimental. The National Academy of Sciences has awarded him from Brazil as an Affiliate Member (category exclusive for under 40 years-old researchers), and a Research Fellow level 1A (the highest level) from the Brazilian Ministry of Science. Besides scientific career. He is a board certified in Respiratory Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine been clinically active in an Academic Hospital during the last years. Rodrigo Hasbun, M.D., M.P.H., is Professor of Medicine; he obtained his medical degree at the Autonomous University of Central America in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1991. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1994 and then went to Yale University for 5 years for a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Research by obtaining a National Research Service Award grant and by enrolling in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. During this time, he conducted studies in meningitis and endocarditis that have been incorporated into national guidelines. In 1999, he joined Tulane University in New Orleans where he obtained an MPH in Clinical Research and received an NIH K23 training grant to study adults with the aseptic meningoencephalitis syndrome. He joined the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in September 2008 and has validated and expanded his meningoencephalitis study to multiple centers and to the pediatric population. In collaboration with pediatrics, he has received support from the Grant A Starr Foundation since 2010 to help advance the management of adults and children with meningitis and encephalitis and is evaluating novel technologies (such as multiplex PCR and next generation sequencing) to improve the diagnostic field. He has also obtained funding from the Baylor UT CFAR to study HIV associated neurocognitive disorders. In collaboration with the University of Houston, Dr Hasbun has expanded neurocognitive studies to other disorders such as West Nile virus infection. Additionally, as co-investigator of the R01 funded West Nile encephalitis cohort study he has led a collaborative neurological, neuropsychological, and ophthalmological evaluation of West Nile patients with a subset of patients also undergoing electromyography and volumetric MRI. He is a co-investigator of the U24-funded National Neuro AIDS Tissue Consortium that enrolls patients at Thomas Street Health. Finally, Dr Hasbun is a panel member of the first healthcare associated ventriculitis and meningitis guidelines in 2016 and is the main author for the meningitis chapters in the main textbook of infectious diseases (Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases) and in Medscape.

Table of Contents (revised after reviewer’s comments and AE’s recommendations): Part I - Foundations of Neuroinfection 1. Anatomical organization of CNS 2. The enteric nervous system's (ENS) impact on the neurobiology of infectious diseases 3. The role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis on the neurobiology of infectious diseases 4. The role and function of specialized blood-neuronal barriers: blood-CSF, blood-retinal, blood-spinal cord, blood-labyrinth, blood-nerve, and BBB barriers. 5. The glymphatic system: What is it, and its function on the neurobiology of infectious diseases? 6. Neuro-immune interactions in health and disease 7. The routes and mechanisms of microbial translocation to the CNS Part II - Bacterial Infections Of CNS 8. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Streptococcus pneumoniae 9. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Neisseria meningitidis 10. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Mycobacterium tuberculosis 11. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Neurosyphilis 12. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Lyme disease - Lyme Borreliosis 13. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Brucelosis 14. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Listeria monocytogenesis - Listeriosis 15. Sepsis-associated-encephalopathy: understanding the brain dysfunction in sepsis. Part III - Parasitic Infections Of CNS 16. Human trypanosomiasis: Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzes 17. Cerebral Malaria: understanding the parasite pathogenesis in the brain. 18. Neurocysticercosis and other CNS helminthic infections 19. Free-Living Ameba: the protozoa, the pathogenesis, and the CNS disease. 20. Pathophysiological mechanisms of Toxoplasma gondii infection in the CNS 21. Neurologic manifestations of Leishmania spp. Part IV - Virus Infections Of CNS 22. HIV-infected human brain: implications in HIV infection and immune response. 23. SARS-CoV-2 and nervous system: From pathogenesis to clinical manifestation. 24. Epstein-Barr virus infections of the central nervous system (CNS) 25. Herpes Simplex Virus, Varicella-zoster: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 26. Rhabdoviridae virus: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 27. Paramyxoviridae: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 28. Zika virus: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 29. Yellow Fever: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 30. Dengue Fever: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 31. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV): infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 32. West Nile viruses: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 33. Tick-borne Encephalitis (TBE) 34. La Crosse encephalitis and Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 35. HTLVs: infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). 36. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV): infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS). Part V– Fungal Infections Of CNS 37. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Cryptococcus sp. 38. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Histoplasma capsulatum 39. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Hyphae - fungus 40. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Coccidioides sp. 41. Brain infections, encephalitis, and meningitis: Candida sp. Part VI – Proteins And Other Peripheral Mediators That Affect The CNS 42. CNS and Prions disease: a-synuclein, amyloid-ß, and others. 43. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Variant CJD, and Kuru Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr) 44. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA), Sydenham chorea, PANDAS, and PANDAS variants.