Brain-Behavioral Vulnerabilities Laboratory

Faculty

Anna Rose Childress, PhD - Laboratory Director
Imaging of cue-triggered cocaine motivation (GO!) and its modulation ("STOP!") by behavioral or pharmacologic interventions; imaging of limbic activation by "unseen" drug cues; modulation of brain response to cocaine cues by GABAergics; and frontal brain-behavioral deficits as additional risk factors; real-time fMRI feedback training as a tool for craving and control.

Daniel Langleben, MD
Neuroimaging and other biomarkers of the effects of opioid agonists and antagonists on the brain response to drug-related stimuli. Neuroimaging investigations of deception, morality and empathy.  Neuroimaging measures of the impact of public health communications for the prevention of smoking and other health risk behaviors.

Teresa Franklin, PhD
Imaging of cue-induced cigarette/alcohol/marijuana craving; modulation by sex, menstrual cycle and the GABA B agonist, baclofen and the FDA-approved (for smoking cessation) medication, varenicline; structural differences in addicted brains as risk factors; genetic influences.

Paul S. Reiger is a postdoc fellow at UPenn. He earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. During graduate school, Dr. Regier was trained in behavioral pharmacology of addiction under Dr. Marilyn Carroll and in vivo neurophysiology of decision-making systems under Dr. David Redish. In 2015, Dr. Regier joined Dr. Anna Rose Childress’ lab in to work with humans who have substance use disorders. His focus has been on early adversity and its effects on brain response to evocative cues (GO circuits) as well as regulatory brain regions (STOP circuits) in relation to treatment outcome.

Reagan Wetherill, PhD
Integration of genetic and neuroimaging approaches to help elucidate the etiology of alcohol and substance use disorders and optimize their pharmacological treatment.

Zhenhao Shi, PhD - Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry
Imaging and the neurobiology of the cognitive and social processes underlying substance use disorders.