Dr. Michael Placzek received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2013 from Northeastern University with research focused on novel chemistry methods for the efficient synthesis of short-lived radiotracers. After his Ph.D., Michael accepted an NIH-NIDA postdoctoral fellowship to train in drug abuse pharmacology and neuroimaging at Harvard Medical School. He has developed novel C-11 labeling methods, and in parallel, discovered novel radiotracers for studying the molecular mechanisms of disease in the living brain with positron emission tomography (PET). In 2015 Michael joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School where his research focuses on developing new tools for studying specific neuroinflammatory signatures in the living brain with PET. He hopes these new tools (PET radiotracers), will help us understand human disease mechanisms related to neuroinflammation, thereby accelerating development of disease-modifying therapeutics.