Neil G. Harris, PhD

ngharris at ucla dot edu | 310-206-5691 | Wasserman Bldg 535 | Dr. Neil G. Harris

Professor Neil G. Harris directs the NEurotrauma In vivo Lab (NEIL) with over 30 years of experience with rodent CNS injury models and in particular using MRI and PET to assess structure and function. He received his B.Sc. in Biology/Neuroscience from University of Portsmouth in 1988, and his Ph.D. in Physiology from King’s College London in 1991. Dr. Harris’s early focus of research addressed the question of optimal timing for intervention after the diagnosis of infantile hydrocephalus.  Prior to joining University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Dr. Harris received training in multimodality imaging techniques, including PET, structural MRI, fMRI, DTI, MALDI imaging mass spectrometry and glucose/blood-flow autoradiography at Kings college University of London, University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute, the Royal College of Surgeons unit of Biophysics in the Institute of Child Health, and University of Cambridge Department of Neurosurgery. Subsequently, Dr. Harris conducted studies to address forebrain ischemic stroke looking at the potential use of non-invasive biomarkers to determine salvageable areas of brain. The studies were cited amongst primary reported findings on biophysical mechanism of the change in water diffusion after stroke. Dr. Harris currently resides as Professor in-Residence at UCLA Department of Neurosurgery where his lab primarily investigates Traumatic Brain Injury. As the scientific director of UCLA 7T animal imaging core, Dr. Harris’s work contributes to understanding the relationship between axonal death and cerebral blood flow and metabolism, and whether the extracellular environment can be altered to improve axonal plasticity and functional outcome. The lab collaborations on investigations into circuit-based deficits in autism, multiple sclerosis and ischemia and post-traumatic epilepsy.