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 MembersPublications
View All PublicationsAffiliations
- A whole-brain voxel-based analysis of structural abnormalities in PTSD: an ENIGMA-PGC study.; European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists. 2025 Jul 22.
- Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 Jun 17.
- PTSD subtypes and their underlying neural biomarkers: a systematic review.; Psychological medicine; Vol 55, pp. e153. 2025 May 22.
- 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.
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