and the technicians who contributed so much to this manuscript. Their hard work made this paper all the more meaningful.

Please reach out if you have any questions or comments!

I am incredibly thankful to everyone who helped move this project forward over the years. While Javi and I led the work under the supervision of @brittae.bsky.social, I want to give special appreciation to the early-career trainees, some of whom I had the joy of mentoring,

This discovery opens a new path for understanding how the glia limitans, a CNS barrier that is conserved across species through evolution, regulates immune cell migration into the CNS parenchyma.

Interestingly, although JAM-B is known to be expressed by the blood-brain barrier endothelial cells, it was not this barrier stopping the T cells. Instead, CD8 T-cells got trapped in the perivascular space, unable to cross the glia limitans and reach the CNS parenchyma.

In this study, we investigated how CD8 T cells enter the central nervous system (CNS) during neuroinflammation. We found that without JAM-B, mice developed much milder autoimmune disease and had far fewer CD8 T cells entering the brain tissue.

Data from Munji et al. 2019, Pulido et al. 2020, and Profaci et al. 2024.

The scientific exchange with top-notch researchers from around the world who share the same passion was phenomenal. And us, the (ex-)Daneman lab crew delivered some amazing talks! Catching up with friends was the cherry on top. Can’t wait for the next BB meeting!

Writing my ideas down, going over my hypotheses, thinking through how I want to study the questions I’m asking etc. It was so helpful and, to be honest, quite relieving. Let’s see what comes out of this. Wish me luck! 🍀

I have no idea how this will turn out, whether I’ll get funded or not (hoping for the best! 🤞), but one thing I do know is that this process helped me crystallize my vision for what I want to do in the next few years as a faculty member.

I appreciate all the people who supported me, including those who wrote reference letters, provided collaborator support, and helped in ways big and small. A huge huge thank you to my mentor Rich Daneman, who guided me through it all.

As someone who wasn’t familiar with the NIH system, I didn’t realize just how much extra work would come with it. So many unexpected steps and so many documents.

But if there’s one thing this process proved to me once more, it’s that science is never a solo journey and we truly lift each other up!

Thank you!

Thank you!!