Rebecca L. Pfeiffer, PhD

Dr. Pfeiffer’s graduate studies focused on parallels between brain diseases and eye diseases, and her current research explores how the retina rebuilds after injury or disease-related degeneration. She was first introduced to research as a potential career path through a job in a neuroscience lab that she had as an undergraduate student. Dr. Pfeiffer had originally planned to go into clinical medicine, but through this job at the lab, decided to pursue research instead.

As a graduate student, she began looking at metabolism changes in diseased Mueller cells, which are unique cells found only in the retina.

As a Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr. Pfeiffer developed a focus on the relationships between neurons and glia within the retina. This is a unique area to study. Additionally, Dr. Pfeiffer is studying how glia interact with synapses within the nervous system. She is looking to find out if communication between synapses follows consistent patterns in both healthy eyes and eyes with diseases.

In the future, Dr. Pfeiffer hopes to study how transporters interact with neurons and glia and how glia impact disease. She may use immune-electrode microscopy and super resolution microscopy to examine these topics.