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Welcome to the ZVR Lab

Our lab uses virtual reality (VR), multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and machine learning to try to elucidate the psychological and neural signatures of PTSD and anxiety disorders. Particularly, to delineate the contextual aspect of threat and reward learning, discrimination, and monitoring.

Specifically, we are interested in cases where an area within a larger environment becomes associated with threat, such as the area of a neighborhood where an assault or assaults took place, or the location on a battlefield where explosions occurred.

Patients with PTSD and anxiety disorders often show an overgeneralization or an exaggerated response to threat in larger contexts, even in environments predicting safety. With this research, we expect to identify new brain measures to develop sensitive, personalized, and precise diagnostic and treatment tools for psychopathology. 

Lab Members

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Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D.

Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

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Publications

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Affiliations

    1. Han LKM
    2. Bruin WB
    3. Bas-Hoogendam JM
    4. Groenewold NA
    5. Hilbert K
    6. Winkler AM
    7. Zugman A
    8. Asami T
    9. Barber JP
    10. Benedetti F
    11. Blair RJR
    12. Böhnlein J
    13. Brambilla P
    14. Breuer F
    15. Buckner RL
    16. Bülow R
    17. Calkins ME
    18. Chechko N
    19. Dannlowski U
    20. Dohm K
    21. Domschke K
    22. Dresler T
    23. Erhardt-Lehmann A
    24. Fonzo GA
    25. Forstner AJ
    26. Grabe HJ
    27. Grotegerd D
    28. Gur RE
    29. Gur RC
    30. Harmer C
    31. Hofmann D
    32. van den Heuvel OA
    33. Jahanshad N
    34. Kircher TTJ
    35. Koch K
    36. Laansma MA
    37. Langhammer T
    38. Lee SH
    39. Leehr EJ
    40. Maggioni E
    41. Marino CE
    42. Meinert S
    43. Meinert H
    44. Milrod B
    45. Mwangi B
    46. Nielsen JA
    47. Ohrmann P
    48. Pantazatos SP
    49. Paulus MP
    50. Penninx BWJH
    51. Poletti S
    52. Reinecke A
    53. Ridderbusch IC
    54. Rjabtsenkov P
    55. Sämann PG
    56. Satterthwaite TD
    57. Schmaal L
    58. Schrammen E
    59. Soares JC
    60. Solomonov N
    61. Stein MB
    62. Straube B
    63. Straube T
    64. Suarez-Jimenez B
    65. Smoller JW
    66. Talati A
    67. Thomopoulos SI
    68. Vazquez CE
    69. Völzke H
    70. Wittfeld K
    71. Wu MJ
    72. Yang Y
    73. Zunta Soares GB
    74. Lueken U
    75. Thompson PM
    76. Pine DS
    77. Stein DJ
    78. van der Wee NJA
    79. Veltman DJ
    80. Aghajani M
    Structural brain differences associated with panic disorder: an ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group mega-analysis of 4924 individuals worldwide.; Molecular psychiatry. 2026 Jan 13.
    1. Hussain A
    2. Baird CL
    3. Huggins AA
    4. Russell CC
    5. Sun D
    6. Rangel-Jimenez L
    7. Abdallah CG
    8. Angstadt M
    9. May G
    10. Berg H
    11. Blackford JU
    12. Cisler J
    13. Daniels JK
    14. Davenport ND
    15. Davidson RJ
    16. Densmore M
    17. Disner SG
    18. El-Hage W
    19. Etkin A
    20. Fani N
    21. Frijling JL
    22. Gordon EM
    23. Grupe DW
    24. Herringa RA
    25. Herzog JI
    26. Hofmann D
    27. Hudson AR
    28. Jovanovic T
    29. King A
    30. Koch SBJ
    31. Lanius RA
    32. Lazarov A
    33. Li G
    34. Liberzon I
    35. Lissek S
    36. Lu G
    37. Manthey A
    38. Maron-Katz A
    39. McLaughlin KA
    40. Mueller SC
    41. Nawijn L
    42. Nelson SM
    43. Neria Y
    44. Neufeld RWJ
    45. Nitschke JB
    46. Olatunji BO
    47. Olff M
    48. Peverill M
    49. Qi R
    50. Quidé Y
    51. Ravid O
    52. Rektor I
    53. Ressler KJ
    54. Říha P
    55. Ross M
    56. Sambrook K
    57. Schmahl C
    58. Sierk A
    59. Sponheim SR
    60. Stevens JS
    61. Straube T
    62. Suarez-Jimenez B
    63. Théberge J
    64. van der Wee NJA
    65. van der Werff SJA
    66. van Rooij SJH
    67. van Zuiden M
    68. Veltman DJ
    69. Vermeiren RRJM
    70. Walter H
    71. Wang L
    72. Zhu X
    73. Zhu Y
    74. Zilcha-Mano S
    75. Jahanshad N
    76. Thompson PM
    77. Morey RA
    Lower Gyrification of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An ENIGMA-PTSD Study.; Biological psychiatry global open science; Vol 6(2), pp. 100679. 2025 Dec 18.
    1. Radua J
    2. Savage HS
    3. Vilajosana E
    4. Jamieson A
    5. Abler B
    6. Åhs F
    7. Beckers T
    8. Cardoner N
    9. Cisler JM
    10. Diniz JB
    11. Bach DR
    12. Elsenbruch S
    13. Greening SG
    14. Holt DJ
    15. Kaczkurkin AN
    16. Keil A
    17. Kindt M
    18. Koch K
    19. LaBar KS
    20. Lam CL
    21. Larson CL
    22. Lonsdorf TB
    23. Merz CJ
    24. McLaughlin KA
    25. Neria Y
    26. Pine DS
    27. van Reekum CM
    28. Shackman AJ
    29. Soriano-Mas C
    30. Spoormaker VI
    31. Stout DM
    32. Straube B
    33. Straube T
    34. Tuominen L
    35. Visser RM
    36. Ahumada L
    37. Arolt V
    38. Batistuzzo MC
    39. Bazán PR
    40. Biggs EE
    41. Cano M
    42. Chavarría-Elizondo P
    43. Cooper SE
    44. Dannlowski U
    45. de la Peña-Arteaga V
    46. DeCross SN
    47. Domschke K
    48. Ehlers MR
    49. Graner JL
    50. Hamm AO
    51. Herrmann MJ
    52. Huggins AA
    53. Icenhour A
    54. Juaneda-Seguí A
    55. Junghoefer M
    56. Kircher T
    57. Koelkebeck K
    58. Kuhn M
    59. Labrenz F
    60. Lissek SM
    61. Lotze M
    62. Lueken U
    63. Margraf J
    64. Martínez-Zalacaín I
    65. Moeck R
    66. Morriss J
    67. Ortuño M
    68. Pittig A
    69. Porta-Casteras D
    70. Richter J
    71. Ridderbusch IC
    72. Rief W
    73. Roesmann K
    74. Rosén J
    75. Rußmann AN
    76. Sjouwerman R
    77. Spohrs J
    78. Ströhle A
    79. Suarez-Jimenez B
    80. Ulrich M
    81. Wittchen HU
    82. Zhu X
    83. Waller L
    84. Walter H
    85. Thompson PM
    86. Bas-Hoogendam JM
    87. Groenewold NA
    88. J Stein D
    89. Van der Wee NJ
    90. Dunsmoor JE
    91. Marquand AF
    92. J Harrison B
    93. Fullana MA
    Neural correlates of human fear conditioning and sources of variability in 2199 individuals.; Nature communications; Vol 16(1), pp. 7869. 2025 Aug 23.
    1. Tomas CW
    2. Fitzgerald JM
    3. Baird CL
    4. Haswell CC
    5. Abdallah CG
    6. Angstadt M
    7. Baker JT
    8. Berg H
    9. Blackford JU
    10. Cisler J
    11. Cotton AS
    12. Daniels JK
    13. Davenport ND
    14. Davidson RJ
    15. deRoon-Cassini TA
    16. Disner SG
    17. El Hage W
    18. Fani N
    19. Frijling JL
    20. Gordon EM
    21. Grupe DW
    22. He X
    23. Herringa R
    24. Hofmann D
    25. Huggins AA
    26. Hussain A
    27. Ipser J
    28. Jahanshad N
    29. Jovanovic T
    30. Kaufman ML
    31. Kim Y
    32. King A
    33. Koch SBJ
    34. Koopowitz S
    35. Lazarov A
    36. Lebois LAM
    37. Liberzon I
    38. Lissek S
    39. Manthey A
    40. May G
    41. McLaughlin KA
    42. Nawijn L
    43. Nelson SM
    44. Neria Y
    45. Nitschke JB
    46. Olatunji BO
    47. Olff M
    48. Peverill M
    49. Quidé Y
    50. Ravid O
    51. Ressler K
    52. Ross M
    53. Salminen LE
    54. Sambrook K
    55. Shih C
    56. Sierk A
    57. Sponheim SR
    58. Stein DJ
    59. Stevens J
    60. Straube T
    61. Suarez-Jimenez B
    62. Thompson PM
    63. van der Wee NJA
    64. van der Werff SJA
    65. van Rooij SJH
    66. van Zuiden M
    67. Veltman DJ
    68. Vermeiren RRJM
    69. Walter H
    70. Wang X
    71. Xie H
    72. Zhu X
    73. Zilcha-Mano S
    74. Larson CL
    75. Morey R
    Data-Driven Approach to Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: An ENIGMA-PGC PTSD Study.; Human brain mapping; Vol 46(11), pp. e70116. 2025 Aug 01.

Contact Us

ZVR Lab
 Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D.
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 603
Medical Center Annex
Offices: 2B-210, 2B-202
Rochester, NY 14642

Office: 2B210 - (585) 275-6866

Office: 2B202 - (585) 275-7103

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Funding Sources