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ZVR Lab

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
Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D.

Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Affiliations

Publications

    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.; medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences. 2025 Mar 19.
    1. Marino CE
    2. Rjabtsenkov P
    3. Sharp C
    4. Ali Z
    5. Pineda E
    6. Bavdekar SY
    7. Garg T
    8. Jordan K
    9. Halvorsen M
    10. Aponte C
    11. Blue J
    12. Zhu X
    13. Suarez-Jimenez B
    Using virtual reality to study spatial mapping and threat learning.; NPJ science of learning; Vol 10(1), pp. 14. 2025 Mar 15.
    1. Suarez-Jimenez B
    2. Marino C
    3. Rjabtsenkov P
    4. Sharp C
    5. Ali Z
    6. Pineda E
    7. Bavdekar S
    8. Garg T
    9. Jordan K
    10. Halvorsen M
    11. Aponte C
    12. Blue J
    13. Zhu X
    Using Virtual Reality to Study Spatial Mapping and Threat Learning.; Research square. 2024 Apr 03.
    1. Huggins AA
    2. Baird CL
    3. Briggs M
    4. Laskowitz S
    5. Hussain A
    6. Fouda S
    7. Haswell C
    8. Sun D
    9. Salminen LE
    10. Jahanshad N
    11. Thomopoulos SI
    12. Veltman DJ
    13. Frijling JL
    14. Olff M
    15. van Zuiden M
    16. Koch SBJ
    17. Nawjin L
    18. Wang L
    19. Zhu Y
    20. Li G
    21. Stein DJ
    22. Ipser J
    23. Seedat S
    24. du Plessis S
    25. van den Heuvel LL
    26. Suarez-Jimenez B
    27. Zhu X
    28. Kim Y
    29. He X
    30. Zilcha-Mano S
    31. Lazarov A
    32. Neria Y
    33. Stevens JS
    34. Ressler KJ
    35. Jovanovic T
    36. van Rooij SJH
    37. Fani N
    38. Hudson AR
    39. Mueller SC
    40. Sierk A
    41. Manthey A
    42. Walter H
    43. Daniels JK
    44. Schmahl C
    45. Herzog JI
    46. Říha P
    47. Rektor I
    48. Lebois LAM
    49. Kaufman ML
    50. Olson EA
    51. Baker JT
    52. Rosso IM
    53. King AP
    54. Liberzon I
    55. Angstadt M
    56. Davenport ND
    57. Sponheim SR
    58. Disner SG
    59. Straube T
    60. Hofmann D
    61. Qi R
    62. Lu GM
    63. Baugh LA
    64. Forster GL
    65. Simons RM
    66. Simons JS
    67. Magnotta VA
    68. Fercho KA
    69. Maron-Katz A
    70. Etkin A
    71. Cotton AS
    72. O'Leary EN
    73. Xie H
    74. Wang X
    75. Quidé Y
    76. El-Hage W
    77. Lissek S
    78. Berg H
    79. Bruce S
    80. Cisler J
    81. Ross M
    82. Herringa RJ
    83. Grupe DW
    84. Nitschke JB
    85. Davidson RJ
    86. Larson CL
    87. deRoon-Cassini TA
    88. Tomas CW
    89. Fitzgerald JM
    90. Blackford JU
    91. Olatunji BO
    92. Kremen WS
    93. Lyons MJ
    94. Franz CE
    95. Gordon EM
    96. May G
    97. Nelson SM
    98. Abdallah CG
    99. Levy I
    100. Harpaz-Rotem I
    101. Krystal JH
    102. Dennis EL
    103. Tate DF
    104. Cifu DX
    105. Walker WC
    106. Wilde EA
    107. Harding IH
    108. Kerestes R
    109. Thompson PM
    110. Morey R
    Smaller total and subregional cerebellar volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder: a mega-analysis by the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD workgroup.; Molecular psychiatry. 2024 Jan 10.
View All Publications

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