Michal Schwartz PhD

Michal Schwartz is a Professor of Neuroimmunology, incumbent of The Maurice and Ilse Katz Professorial Chair in Neuroimmunology, at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Schwartz served as the elected president of the International Society for Neuroimmunology (2016-2018). Schwartz received her BSc degree with a major in chemistry, cum laude, from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, and her PhD in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute. She performed postdoctoral research in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, studying nerve regeneration.

Schwartz’s research is focused on the role of innate and adaptive immunity in central nervous system (CNS) plasticity. Schwartz was the first to discover that circulating immune cells, including macrophages and T cells, support CNS repair and healthy brain plasticity (Nature Medicine, 1998; Nature Medicine, 1999; Nature Neuroscience, 2006). Schwartz redefined the relationships between the brain and the immune system in health and disease. She coined the concept of “protective autoimmunity”, as a physiological response that protects the brain. She identified the brain’s choroid plexus epithelium, which forms the blood-CSF-barrier, as the site through which the immune cells can engage in dialogue with the brain, and which serves as the gateway for leukocytes that patrol the brain and initiate repair when needed (Immunity, 2013; Brain, 2013; Science, 2014; Nature Communications, 2015). These findings led to Schwartz’s discoveries over the last 4 years that brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases are associated with dysfunction of this interface (Science, 2014; J. Neuroscience, 2015; Nature communication, 2015), and that harnessing the systemic immune system can combat Alzheimer’s disease (Nature Communications, 2015; Nature Medicine, 2016; Science, 2017).