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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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View All Publications

Affiliations

    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.
    1. Steele N
    2. Hussain A
    3. Baird CL
    4. Haswell 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 JM
    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 RJ
    25. Hudson AR
    26. Jahanshad N
    27. Jovanovic T
    28. King A
    29. Koch SBJ
    30. Lanius R
    31. Lazarov A
    32. Li G
    33. Liberzon I
    34. Lissek S
    35. Lu G
    36. Manthey A
    37. Maron-Katz A
    38. Nawijn L
    39. Nelson SM
    40. Neria Y
    41. Neufeld RWJ
    42. Nitschke JB
    43. Olatunji BO
    44. Olff M
    45. Peverill M
    46. Quidé Y
    47. Ravid O
    48. Rakesh G
    49. Ressler K
    50. Ross M
    51. Sambrook K
    52. Sierk A
    53. Sponheim SR
    54. Stevens J
    55. Suarez-Jimenez B
    56. Théberge J
    57. van Rooij SJH
    58. van Zuiden M
    59. Veltman DJ
    60. Vermeiren RRJM
    61. Walter H
    62. Wang L
    63. Zhu X
    64. Zhu Y
    65. Zilcha-Mano S
    66. Larson C
    67. deRoon-Cassini TA
    68. Tomas CW
    69. Fitzgerald JM
    70. Cotton AS
    71. O'Leary EN
    72. Xie H
    73. Wang X
    74. Dennis EL
    75. Tate DF
    76. Cifu DX
    77. Walker WC
    78. Wilde EA
    79. Thompson PM
    80. Morey RA
    Volumetric Differences of Thalamic Nuclei are Associated with Post-Trauma Psychopathology.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 Jul 25.
    1. Harnett NG
    2. Joshi S
    3. Kumar P
    4. Russell C
    5. Dillon DG
    6. Baker JT
    7. Pizzagalli DA
    8. Kaufman ML
    9. Nickerson LN
    10. Jahanshad N
    11. Salminen LE
    12. Thomopoulos SI
    13. Frijling JL
    14. Veltman DJ
    15. Koch SBJ
    16. Nawijn L
    17. van Zuiden M
    18. Zhu Y
    19. Li G
    20. Ipser J
    21. Zhu X
    22. Ravid O
    23. Zilcha-Mano S
    24. Lazarov A
    25. Suarez-Jimenez B
    26. Sun D
    27. Hussain A
    28. Huggins AA
    29. Jovanovic T
    30. van Rooij SJH
    31. Fani N
    32. Hudson AR
    33. Sierk A
    34. Manthey A
    35. Walter H
    36. van der Wee NJA
    37. van der Werff SJA
    38. Vermeiren RRJM
    39. Říha P
    40. Lebois LAM
    41. Rosso IM
    42. Olson EA
    43. Liberzon I
    44. Angstadt M
    45. Disner SG
    46. Sponheim SR
    47. Koopowitz SM
    48. Hofmann D
    49. Qi R
    50. Maron-Katz A
    51. Kunch A
    52. Xie H
    53. El-Hage W
    54. Berg H
    55. Bruce SE
    56. McLaughlin KA
    57. Peverill M
    58. Sambrook K
    59. Ross M
    60. Herringa RJ
    61. Nitschke JB
    62. Davidson RJ
    63. deRoon-Cassini TA
    64. Tomas CW
    65. Fitzgerald JM
    66. Blackford JU
    67. Olatunji BO
    68. Nelson SM
    69. Gordon EM
    70. Densmore M
    71. Théberge J
    72. Neufeld RWJ
    73. Olff M
    74. Wang L
    75. Stein DJ
    76. Neria Y
    77. Stevens JS
    78. Mueller SC
    79. Daniels JK
    80. Rektor I
    81. King A
    82. Davenport ND
    83. Straube T
    84. Lu G
    85. Etkin A
    86. Wang X
    87. Quidé Y
    88. Lissek S
    89. Cisler J
    90. Grupe DW
    91. Larson C
    92. Feola B
    93. May G
    94. Abdallah CG
    95. Lanius R
    96. Thompson PM
    97. Morey RA
    98. Ressler K
    Structural covariance of early visual cortex is negatively associated with PTSD symptoms: A Mega-Analysis from the ENIGMA PTSD workgroup.; Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging. 2025 Jul 23.

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