Rate My Professor Audrey Lafrenaye

Audrey Lafrenaye, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She obtained her Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010, with a dissertation titled 'Focal adhesion kinase, a major regulator of oligodendrocyte morphological maturation and myelination.' After completing her doctoral training, she pursued postdoctoral work at the same institution. In her current role, she directs the Lafrenaye Lab, which investigates diffuse glial and neuronal pathologies following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her studies utilize in vivo models of central fluid percussion injury in rats and pigs, paired with physiological monitoring, behavioral testing, microscopic examination, and molecular analyses to explore mechanisms such as microglial process convergence on injured axons, astrocyte swelling, neuronal somatic membrane poration, oligodendrocyte differentiation, myelination processes, and neuroinflammatory responses.

Lafrenaye's research addresses secondary injury cascades exacerbated by increased intracranial pressure and evaluates interventions including buprenorphine treatment and cathepsin B inhibition. She contributes to the multi-center Operation Brain Trauma Therapy consortium, focusing on therapies and biomarkers like circulating GFAP and Iba-1 levels associated with thalamic sequelae in pig models of mild TBI. Her scholarly impact is evidenced by over 1,000 citations, with prominent publications including 'Microglia processes associate with diffusely injured axons following mild traumatic brain injury in the micro pig' (Journal of Neuroinflammation, 2015), 'Bursting at the seams: molecular mechanisms mediating astrocyte swelling' (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2019), 'Increased intracranial pressure after diffuse traumatic brain injury exacerbates neuronal somatic membrane poration but not axonal injury' (Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2012), 'Focal adhesion kinase (FAK): A regulator of CNS myelination' (Journal of Neuroscience Research, 2009), and 'Operation brain trauma therapy: 2016 update' (Military Medicine, 2018). In 2023, she was named a Blick Scholar, honoring junior faculty advancing health sciences research. Lafrenaye chairs the Graduate Student Committee for the Women in Medicine and Science Program and advises Ph.D. candidates in neuroscience.