Speaker

Hugo Peluffo

Hugo Peluffo is group leader of the Neuroimmune Interactions Laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona. He has studied glial cell biology, immune receptors and neuroinflammation for many years, and at different institutions such as the Universidad de la República and the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo (Uruguay), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).

His group is focused on the study of microglial/macrophage lipid-binding immune receptors and their function in modulating inflammation, immunometabolism, phagocytosis, and synaptic pruning. Most of their efforts are devoted to the study of the biology of the CD300f immune receptor, which is part of a bigger family of lipid-binding immune receptors highly similar to the TREM receptors. They have shown that the lack of CD300f induces age-dependent cognitive decline, inflammaging, senescence, frailty and reduced health and lifespan in knockout mice. They also identified a non-synonymous substitution (R218Q) in the cytoplasmic tail of this receptor that reduces the risk of developing Major Depressive Disorder in women and Generalized Anxiety in men. They are currently studying its role as a microglial DAMP sensor in aging and Alzheimer’s Disease by coupling lipoproteins and other ligands, lipid metabolism, endocytosis/phagocytosis and microglia immunometabolism.