Thomas Taetzsch is a Health Program Specialist with the Neurodegeneration, Dementia, and Repeat Expansion Disorders cluster within the Division of Neuroscience at NINDS. Prior to joining NINDS, Tom worked as an investigator at Brown University after completing a postdoc at Virginia Tech. In both roles Tom researched cellular and molecular changes in the neuromuscular system in aging and ALS. This work utilized transgenic mice to model ALS and to pinpoint genes that underly neuromuscular junction stability and govern the actions of terminal Schwann cells. Tom received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Virginia Commonwealth University where he researched the impact of aging on redox signaling in microglia. Tom's research interests include ALS, aging, molecular mechanisms of lower motor neuron degeneration, and the influence of peripheral factors, such as Schwann cells, neuromuscular junction integrity and peripheral nerve injury, on motor neurons and microglia in the spinal cord.