University of Colorado
School of Medicine
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Children's Hospital Colorado
Guez-Barber Lab
Understanding the brain immune response
to improve therapies for
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Research Focus
Our lab focuses on understanding the brain’s immune response to perinatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a leading cause of death and disability in neonates. Specifically, in our mouse model we investigate the role of two types of macrophages involved in this injury: brain-resident microglia and macrophages that infiltrate the brain from the bloodstream following the injury. We found that depleting microglia and macrophages worsens injury in females but has the opposite effect in males. By differentiating macrophage subtypes and examining upstream factors that contribute to these sex differences, we aim to learn how macrophages influence brain injury after hypoxia-ischemia and ultimately identify therapeutic targets. Our lab cares deeply about the patients affected by HIE and we realize the urgent need for more effective therapies. To support this effort, Dr. Barber is leading the building of a national HIE registry that connects clinical and caregiver-reported data. This HIE registry will enable long-term outcome reporting in a large cohort of individuals, and can focus on outcomes that are most meaningful to families.
Our Team
Recent Publications
Guez-Barber D, Nicolayevsky SE, Johnson KJD, Narli I, Yun S, Eisch AJ. Microglial depletion worsens lesion in female but not male C57BL/6J mice after P10 hypoxia-ischemia. Revisions under review, 2025 January. Also deposited in bioRxiv doi 10.1101/2023.10.17.562542 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.17.562542v2
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Peeples ES, Mietzsch U, Molloy E, deVeber G, Mohammad K, Soul JS, Guez-Barber D, Pilon B, Chau V, Bonifacio S, Afifi J, Craig A, Wintermark P. "Data Collection Variability Across Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Registries." The Journal of Pediatrics, 2025 January 23; In press. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39863078/
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Guez-Barber D, Chang J. EBNEO commentary: Reducing the percentage of surviving infants with acute symptomatic seizures discharged on anti-seizure medication. (2025) Acta Paediatrica 2025 Feb; 114(2):456-457. PMID 39630589 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39630589
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Guez-Barber D, Pilon B. "Parental impact during and after Neonatal Intensive Care admission." Seminars in Perinatology, 151926, 2024.​​ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38964994/
Lyons-Warren AM, Guez-Barber D, Thomas SP, Tantry EK, Mahat A, et al. "Sensory symptoms across the lifespan in people with cerebral palsy." Pediatric Neurology, 3, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38924827/
Jaleel F, Rust A, Cheung S, Pearson TS, Ueda K, et al. "Caregiver descriptions of dystonia in cerebral palsy." Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 11(2), 242-250, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38174361/