We examine the effects of chemokines and viral proteins using different methods including traditional biochemical/molecular biology techniques and novel imaging and proteomics approaches, as briefly described below. Primary cultures of rat and human central neurons are used as a model for the study of chemokine receptors naturally expressed by neurons. Alternative models include neuronal human cell lines expressing specific chemokine receptors. In addition, small animal models and post-mortem brain tissue samples from control and HIV-infected individuals are used for the analyses of specific pathways of interest in vivo/ex vivo.