The goal of this GRC conference is to increase our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms associated with the blood brain barrier (BBB)/neurovascular unit (NVU) in health and disease. One of the focuses of this meeting is to understand why the BBB excludes important therapeutics from entering the brain of people afflicted with diseases of the CNS. The issue of CNS disease states and the role the BBB/NVU plays in these disease states is the central theme of our meeting. The Gordon Research Conference on Barriers of the CNS is unique because it brings together (equally) both clinical and basic science researches in a format where full and open exchange occurs on subjects important to the patient. It is to our mutual benefit that clinical and basic scientists work together to solve the long term problem associated with an inability to treat CNS disease states because of our paucity of knowledge about the BBB/NVU. The meeting program will have two keynote addresses and eight sessions that address current issues in (among others) BBB Tight Junctions and Barrier Regulation, BBB Transporters and Barrier Functions, Choroid plexus/Blood-CSF Barrier in health and disease, Barriers in the developing brain, BBB/NVU imaging, retinal-, spinal-, and tumor barriers, BBB/NVU in stroke, BBB/NVU in Alzheimer’s disease, and in inflammation. The health relatedness of this conference is very exciting. Discussions at this GRC will map the future for defining how to understand CNS disease states and the BBB/NVU and discuss why several CNS therapeutics have been unsuccessful to date. Since the number of attendees is limited by the meeting facility early registration on the GRC web site is advised.