The Crosby Neurosurgical Laboratories have two main areas of research focus: cerebrovascular disease and central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Cerebrovascular studies focus on understanding mechanisms of brain injury in hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, and the effects of neurological disease on the blood-brain barrier.

CNS tumor research centers on the role of cancer stems cells in glioblastoma and medulloblastoma, the stem cell vascular niche, developing new therapies for spine metastatic cancers, and engineering stem cells as inflammatory sensors and vehicles for delivering therapeutics for glioblastoma.