Developmental Brain Imaging Lab

For more than a decade, the Developmental Brain Imaging Lab has studied the brains of healthy and at-risk young people. By understanding changes in the developing brain, we can look for ways to prevent and treat substance use disorder and mood disorders. 

Prenatal Environment and Child Health (PEACH) Lab

The overarching research goal of the laboratory is to understand the influence of early environmental factors such as maternal nutrition, stress, and mental health during gestation on offspring neurobehavioral regulation. The primary focus is the identification of early environmental risk and protective factors for neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression in order to inform the design of prevention strategies and early interventions. One specific focus is the impact of exposure to maternal obesity and poor nutrition during the perinatal period on the behavior, and physiology of the developing offspring

Stress, Cognition, Affect, & Neuroimaging (SCAN) Lab

The SCAN lab is focused on trying to understand neurobiological risk factors for psychopathology in at-risk individuals across the lifespan, with an emphasis on early life adversity/trauma, neurodevelopment, and women’s mental health. We take a translational approach across our studies, meaning we bridge basic science with psychotherapuetic intervention. Most of our studies center on periods of heightened neuroplasticity that are not only periods of vulnerability but also of potential heightened responsivity to intervention. The goal of our work is to use basic cognitive and affective neuroscience to identify core processes that can be targeted in preventive interventions for individuals at heighted risk of psychopathology.

Substance Use Neurobiology and Precision Intervention Lab

This lab is focused on understanding the neurobiological factors that underlie specific features associated with substance use disorders in some individuals (e.g. behavior, cognition, psychological processes). Through mechanistic laboratory studies, we aim to conduct interventions to demonstrate that modifying neurobiology produces corresponding changes in the features linked to substance use and to ultimately use that information to develop clinical trials. Our goal is to improve treatment outcomes by matching individuals to an intervention based on their neurobiological profile.

Science of Nutrition Affect & Cognition in Kids (SNACK) Lab

The Science of Nutrition Affect and Cognition in Kids Lab is focused on complementary and integrative treatments for mental health issues including ADHD, irritability, anxiety, and depression, in children and adolescents. Mindfulness and micronutrients (vitamins + minerals) are two of the interventions studied. Beyond behavioral changes, the lab is interested in understanding for whom and why interventions work. To gain this knowledge, we examine participants’ biological samples in order to identify biomarkers of treatment response to begin understanding the biological signature of the micronutrients.

Mood Disorder Investigations Throughout Neurodevelopment (MIND) Lab

Dr. Huber’s lab is focused on discovery of cognitive and biological risk factors for suicide in youth with mood disorders. The mission of the lab is to understand the biological basis of suicide risk and to identify real world warning signs that can be targeted through interventions. Ultimately, the lab aims to develop novel treatments and prevention strategies to reduce suicide and improve the quality of life for those living with mood disorders. The lab utilizes digital mobile technologies (e.g., actigraphy and ecological momentary assessment) to investigate sleep, cognition and suicidal thoughts in real time combined with neuroimaging to examine associated brain functional connectivity.

InterGenerational Neuroimaging (IGN) Lab

The InterGenerational Neuroimaging (IGN) Lab focuses it research on an intergenerational approach to understand links between brain development and mental health during the perinatal period for two generations: infant and parent. The lab uses neuroimaging (primarily magnetic resonance imaging) to understand the perinatal period as both a sensitive window and window of opportunity for brain development. The IGN Lab also is interested in harnessing Big Data and machine learning methods to increase precision in studies of early markers of psychopathology for both mechanistic inference and clinical prediction.

Mooney Lab

Dr. Mooney's lab focuses on better understanding the causal pathways from genes and early environment to long-term outcomes for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—knowledge crucial for improving risk assessment and intervention.

They use statistical and computational methods to identify genetic and epigenetic risk factors for ADHD, and to investigate how those risk factors interact with environmental exposures. In addition, they use machine learning techniques to mine integrated data sets and develop models for predicting disease risk and outcome.

The lab contributes to several large consortia efforts: the Epigenetics of ADHD subgroup of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC-ADHD), the Methylation Imaging and Neurodevelopment (MIND) consortium, and the ENIGMA-ADHD working group.