The main line of research in Dr. Elyaman’s lab is to understand (1) how T cells are recruited to the CNS of neurodegenerative diseases, (2) what antigens are being presented to these T cells by CNS-resident innate immune cells, microglia, (3) how microglia-T cell axis regulates the disease pathogenesis, and lastly (4) what is the influence of genetic risk variants associated with these diseases on antigen-specific immune responses. To this end, the Elyaman’s group employ an array of genetic, molecular and biochemical approaches to identify novel molecular pathways and potentially druggable targets. All discoveries are made in the human system using patients’ blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells, and fresh CNS autopsies that are analyzed at the single cell levels using RNA and T cell receptor sequencing. MHC peptidome of microglia is performed for the identification of potential self (auto-antigens) and non-self antigens (infectious agents) that are involved in priming the immune system. Key regulators of the immune response are further tested functionally using human microglia-neuron-T-cell tri-culture system as well as in vivo in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases.