Title

Michelle C. LaPlaca

(she/her)
Headshot Placeholder
Michelle C. LaPlaca, Ph.D.
Title/Position
Associate Chair for Faculty Development, G.P. “Bud” Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Professorship, Professor, Research Health Scientist, Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Areas of Research

Areas of Research

Neuroengineering
Contact

Contact

U.A. Whitaker, Suite 2100Georgia Tech
michelle.laplaca@bme.gatech.edu
404.385.0629
Translational Neurotrauma Laboratory
Biography

Biography

Michelle C. LaPlaca, Ph.D. is a Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.  Prior to joining BME, Dr. LaPlaca received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering and postdoctoral training in Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds the Peterson Professorship in Pediatric Research and is director of the Translational Neurotrauma Laboratory. Dr. LaPlaca also co-leads the Georgia Tech – Shepherd Center Research Collaborative. Dr. LaPlaca has over 90 refereed publications, three patents, and has been funded from the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Veterans Affairs, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.  She has served as President and Program Chair of the National Neurotrauma Society, is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Neurotrauma. 

Education

Education

  • Ph.D. in Bioengineering, 1996, University of Pennsylvania
  • M.S. in Bioengineering, 1992, University of Pennsylvania
  • B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, 1991, Catholic University of America
Research Interests

Research Interests

Dr. LaPlaca’s research interests are in traumatic brain injury (TBI) with specific emphasis on better understanding TBI heterogeneity and improving preclinical to clinical translation. The lab focuses on lipid dysregulation in the injury response, identifies novel TBI biomarkers, and examines the role of glymphatic system in brain fluid homeostasis and biomarker efflux.  She has also developed a virtual reality multimodal assessment tool for children and adults to measure neurological function associated with concussion. She is a co-core director of the Veterans Affairs (VA) interagency center PRECISE-TBI (PRE Clinical Interagency reSearch resourcE-TBI), which develops common data elements and end-to-end informatic tools to improve rigor, reproducibility, and transparency for preclinical neurotrauma research. 

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests

Dr. LaPlaca uses her background and expertise to teach students foundational and applied biomedical topics, using the latest research findings and active learning approaches. She teaches courses and mentors undergraduate and graduate students in her laboratory. Primary courses: 1) BMED 3100 Systems Physiology: Physiology is a required course for undergraduate BME students with both lecture and problem solving studio components. It emphasizes the integration of physiological and biomedical engineering principles and approaches to understand basic organ function, with an introduction to disease states and medical intervention. 2) VPY 2601/3601/3602/4601/4602 Concussion Connect: This research based multi-level, multi-semester course is part of the Vertically Integrated Project program in which students do research on various aspects of concussion, including clinical assessment tools, translational research methods, and concussion awareness. Students are involved in project planning, team dynamics, and scientific writing.
Publications

Publications

Datta Roy, P. M., Cuba, J., Milligan, K., Shi, W., Wang, D., & LaPlaca, M. C. (2025). Sex dimorphism influences cortical microglial morphological and phenotypic marker profile after closed head mild traumatic brain injury in rats. Neurotrauma Reports, 6(1), 790-803. https://doi.org/10.1177/2689288X251377030
Michalaki, E., Pulliam, A. N., Datta Roy, P. M., Dixon, J. B., & LaPlaca, M. C. (2025). Near-Infrared Imaging of Glymphatic Clearance in a Pre-Clinical Model of Repetitive Closed-Head Traumatic Brain Injury. Neurotrauma Reports, 6(1), 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1089/neur.2024.0128; PMID: 39990707
Pulliam, A. N., Pybus, A. F., Gaul, D. A., Moore, S. G., Wood, L. B., Fernández, F. M., & LaPlaca, M. C. (2024). Integrative Analysis of Cytokine and Lipidomics Datasets Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats. Metabolites, 14(3), 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14030133; PMID: 38535293; PMCID: PMC10972386
Pulliam, A. N., Gier, E. C., Gaul, D. A., Moore, S. G., Fernández, F. M., & LaPlaca, M. C. (2024). Comparing Brain and Blood Lipidome Changes Following Single and Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 15(2), 300–314. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00603. PMID: 38179922; PMCID: PMC10797623
Espinoza, T. R., Hendershot, K. A., Liu, B., Knezevic, A., Jacobs, B. B., Gore, R. K., Guskiewicz, K. M., Bazarian, J. J., Phelps, S. E., Wright, D. W., & LaPlaca, M. C. (2021). A novel neuropsychological tool for immersive assessment of concussion and correlation with subclinical head impacts. Neurotrauma Reports, 2(1), 232-244. https://doi.org/10.1089/neur.2020.0022; PMCID: PMC8240822 PMID: 34223554
LaPlaca, M. C., Huie, J. R., Alam, H. B., Bachstetter, A. D., Bayir, H., Bellgowan, P. F., Cummings, D., Dixon, C. E., Ferguson, A. R., Ferland-Beckham, C. L., Floyd, C. L., Friess, S. H., Galanopoulou, A. S., Hall, E. D., Harris, N. G., Hawkins, B. E., Hicks, R. R., Hulbert, L. E., Johnson, V. E., Kabitzke, P. A., Lafrenaye, A. D., Lemmon, V. P., Lifshitz, C. W., Lifshitz, J., Loane, D. J., Misquitta, L., Nikolian, V. C., Noble-Haeusslein, L. J., Smith, D. H., Taylor-Burds, C., Umoh, N., Vovk, O., Williams, A. M., Young, M., & Zai, L. J. (2021). Preclinical data elements for traumatic brain injury research: Progress and use case. Journal of Neurotrauma, 38(10), 1399-1410. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2020.7328; PMID: 33297844; PMCID: PMC8082734.
Media

Media