Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
The overall goal of my research is to link genetics, brain, and behavior to understand the determinants and consequences of substance abuse and comorbid psychopathology. My laboratory is conducting prospective longitudinal studies of adolescent twins including assessments of brain function using brain electrophysiology and, more recently, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Using these developmentally and genetically informative data, we are investigating the neural mechanisms and cognitive processes mediating genetic predisposition to addictive behaviors. In another project, we compare identical tiwns who are discordant for heavy drinking during adolescence in order to understandthe consequences of early alcohol exposure on the brain, cognition, and behavior.