Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Research

The Autism and Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Program is dedicated to developing breakthrough treatments for a unique group of overlapping conditions by clarifying neurobiological mechanisms that underlie core symptom domains across these conditions and providing world-renowned care to our research participants.

The Mood Disorders Research Program aims to improve care and outcomes for patients with unipolar and bipolar diagnoses in an environment that encourages creative, interdisciplinary research to advance the understanding and treatment of mental illness and mood disorders.

The Affect-Focused Psychotherapy Research Program is devoted to researching non-exposure-based psychotherapies, including psychodynamic, interpersonal and supportive psychotherapies, as well as investigating attachment and reflective function.

The Neural Circuits for Motivation and Arousal Laboratory is a specialized program dedicated to understanding addictive behaviors, focusing on evidence-based practices and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Neurobiology of Metabolism, Nutrition and Stress Response Laboratory seeks to further understand how the brain coordinates the response to the body’s metabolic needs and motivational drives, how the environment influences these responses and how underlying biology can lead to a broad spectrum of adaptive and disease-related outcomes.

The Neurobiology of Social Behavior Laboratory uncovers and dissects neural circuits that control social behaviors to understand how these circuits are regulated under physiological and pathological conditions.

Our researchers seek to understand the relationship between negative memories, negative affect and maladaptive behavior and to identify neurobiological approaches that might help the treatment of affective disorders.

The Neurodevelopmental Research Program investigates how specific neuronal cell types, with emphasis on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic inhibitory neurons, and associated circuits mature and orchestrate the processing of cortical information related to behavior.

The Neuroscience of Drug Addiction and Decision-Making Laboratory comprises an interdisciplinary team that uses a broad range of approaches, drawing from molecular, systems, computational and behavioral neuroscience to study the neural basis of reward-guided decision-making, drug addiction and motivated behavior.

The Program of Behavioral Genetics is a specialized program that studies the molecular basis of schizophrenia, autism and neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Risk Prediction and Prevention Laboratory aims to reduce human suffering through better understanding, prediction and prevention of self-injurious behavior.

The Socioecological Cognitive Neuroscience Lab studies how the brain embodies complex social structures and how these social structures and an individual’s position within them influence pain, emotion and health.

The Stigma Mitigation and Health Equity Laboratory studies strategies to mitigate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related stigmas in healthcare settings that result in improvements in the quality of care and health outcomes.

The Laboratory for Understanding the Physiology of Neuropeptides in Developing, Adult and Aging Circuits explores how neuromodulation and inhibition shape brain circuits related to social communication and motor function.

The Youth Suicide Research Program employs two-generation approaches to enhance risk assessments and interventions for children with suicidal thoughts and behaviors while promoting the well-being of the entire family.