University of Pennsylvania · NeurosciencePlatt Resilience Lab
Michael L Platt · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Research Focus
Dr. Michael Platt's lab focuses on understanding how environmental stressors, like natural disasters, affect mental health and social behavior. Using the unique situation of free-ranging rhesus macaques impacted by a hurricane, the lab investigates the biological and social factors that contribute to resilience or vulnerability in response to stress. The findings could have important implications for improving mental health outcomes in humans by identifying protective factors from social connections.
NeurogenomicsMental HealthSocial BehaviorMacaquesStress Response
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate how environmental stressors affect brain health.
AIM 02Identify molecular and anatomical variations in social behavior.
AIM 03Examine the role of social capital in resilience to stress.
Skills the Lab Values
Molecular techniquesNeuroimaging (MRI)ElectrophysiologyBehavioral analysisData modeling
Output against the department
Publications384top 16% of dept.110th of 671
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations20ktop 21% of dept.140th of 671
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.