The BRAINS Lab uses a translational biobehavioral research framework to understand the etiology and treatment of co-occurring internalizing and substance use disorders. To accomplish our ultimate aim of reducing the suffering and public health burden associated with these disorders, our lab focuses on the following two objectives: risk assessment and intervention development.
Risk Assessment
Our first objective is to design human laboratory models of theoretical psychopathological mechanisms and characterize these mechanisms across multiple units of analysis (e.g., EEG, peripheral psychophysiology, behavior, self-report), with a strong emphasis on the development of reliable measures that can serve as possible treatment targets and/or clinically useful predictors (e.g., of disorder risk/course, treatment response).
Intervention Development
Our second objective is to develop and evaluate novel, mechanism-targeted treatments within a precision medicine framework, with a strong emphasis on cost-effective and scalable computerized interventions.
