Aleksandra Deczkowska

I’m the head of the Brain-Immune Communication lab at Institut Pasteur, Paris, a leading European center for immunology and neuroscience.

During my training at the Weizmann Institute of Science, I combined tools of immunology, neuroscience, and single-cell genomics to discover the unexpected roles of immune cells and signals in brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as chronic diseases outside the CNS. Now, with my team, we strive to understand how immune cells residing at the brain borders shape the development, physiology, and disease of the brain.

Since I started my group in April 2021, although the pandemic initially interfered with lab installation, I have managed to build a fully equipped lab space, hire experts in molecular biology, immunology, neuroscience, and bioinformatics, establish collaborations with scientists and physicians, and secure over $3M of funding, including, among others, an ERC grant ($1.6M), an ANR (a national grant; $400k), and a research grant from the Alzheimer’s Association (US grant $150k). In 2023, I received the Joel Menard Prize for my contributions to Alzheimer’s disease. In 2025, I was named a Highly Cited Researcher.

Our vision is that modulation of the peripheral immune system and its interactions with the brain borders could one day be employed as a treatment in neurological diseases.