Herbert M. Geller, PhD’s research has been concerned with understanding mechanisms of response to and recovery of function after brain injury and disease. His current models include cell culture models and pre-clinical models of spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and toxin-produced models of Parkinson’s disease (6-OHDA and MPTP). His section’s goals include understanding the mechanisms by which these injuries result in neuronal death and loss of functional connections, as well as developing therapies against these mechanisms to reduce the negative consequences of disease/injury. They are especially interested in the role of glial cells, both microglia/macrophages and astrocytes in the brain injury response, and they have a major focus on the role of alterations in the brain extracellular matrix in brain injury and disease.