Lab news

September 27 2023

SPR 2023 Meeting in New Orleans

FACE PROCESSING AND THE EXPRESSION OF RACE BIAS: EFFECTS OF BETWEEN-AND WITHIN-PERSON VARIABILITY IN MOTIVATION TO ENGAGE CONTROL - Paul Brancaleone, Roberto Cofresi, Hannah Volpert-Esmond, David Amodio, Tiffany Ito, Bruce Bartholow

P3 EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL RESPONSE TO ALCOHOL CUES FORECASTS REAL-WORLD ALCOHOL USE BEHAVIOR BY EMERGING ADULT DRINKERS - Roberto Cofresi, Casey Kohen, Thomas Piasecki, Bruce Bartholow

August 04 2023

APA 2023 Convention in Washington DC

Roberto Cofresí - Top-Down Inhibitory Control Over Bottom-Up Behavioral Approach Impulses Triggered by Alcohol

This talk was presented at the APA Division 06 - Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology. I was honored to co-organize the symposium, Top-Down and Bottom-Up Impacts of Alcohol on the Developing Brain, with Kate Nooner from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Other presentations in this symposium included:

Kati Healey, PhD, Duke University - Brain Changes in Neurons and Astrocytes in Rodent Models of Adolescent Hazardous Alcohol Use

Kate Nooner, PhD, UNC Wilmington - Disruptions in Adolescent Brain Function on Trajectories of Young Adult Hazardous Alcohol Use

Ksenija Marinkovic, PhD, San Diego State University - Evidence for Acute Alcohol-Induced Impairments in Inhibitory Control

June 27 2023

Research Society on Alcohol

Roberto attended the 46th Annual RSA Scientific Meeting held in Bellevue, Washington in late June 2023. He attended very thought-provoking symposia on the neural bases of chronic alcohol use-related cognitive-behavioral inflexibility, novel approaches to understanding alcohol withdrawal, novel approaches to studying functional brain connectivity, and new theoretical perspectives on recovery from alcohol use disorder. As always, it was a pleasure meeting new researchers, and reuniting with colleagues from other universities, including friends and mentors at the University of Texas (Drs. Hongjoo Lee, Regina Mangieri, and Rueben Gonzales) and Indiana University (Drs. David Kareken and Ann Kosobud).

May 14 2023

Spring 2023 Graduation

Congratulations to lab members who graduated this semester!

(1) Darius Stewart was accepted into the MU Masters in Public Health in the Fall. He will continue collecting data for the lab!

(2) Ian Flowers was accepted into the graduate program in Applied Psychology at Maastricht University, Netherlands.

(3) Liam Peck will be working as Research Specialist I at MU Psychological Sciences coordinating a NIH R01 Study.

(4) Alana Hatanaka will be working as Hospital Administrator in Columbia, MO.

Thank you all for the opportunity to mentor you and looking forward to seeing where your post-graduation journey will take you!

April 21 2023

Undergraduate Research Week

urw2023

Undergraduate lab members presented their independent research projects at the 2023 edition of the Undergraduate Research Week. All projects were mentored and/or co-directed by Dr. Cofresi.

(1) Hannah Drzewiecki & Jasmine Chen, “Alcohol craving in a laboratory setting among emerging adults”

(2) Sophia Slinkard & Darius Stewart, “New Cues Paired with Sugar Gain Affective Significance”

(3) Ian Flowers, “The influence of social network drinking behavior and a family history of problematic drinking on alcohol involvement in underage, emerging-adult drinkers”

(4) Liam Peck, “Brain responses conditioned to a novel visual stimulus paired with sugar water”

Ian and Liam also presented their research at the Midwest Psychological Association in Chicago, IL.

Liz Conley was also presenting research with her lab in the College of Engineering: “An automated calculation to determine polymer persistence length from AFM images”

September 28 2022

Society For Psychophysiological Research

The lab attended the 2022 annual meeting of the Society For Psychophysiological Research (SPR), which took place Sept 28-Oct 2 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

(1) Cofresi, Morales, Piasecki & Bartholow, Time Frequency Power and Phase Synchrony Signatures of Alcohol Cue Reactivity Among Emerging Adult Alcohol Users

(2) Brancaleone, Cofresi, Ito, Bartholow, Conflict, Motivation and the Adjustment of Race-biased Responding

(3) Dr. Cofresi gave a talk at the “From Bench To Bedside: Advancements In Quantifying And Modulating Neural Circuit Disfunction In Substance Use Disorders” symposium. The title of his talk was Alcohol beverage cues serve as “rewards” in humans: preliminary studies of individual differences.

It was also a special treat to attend the Presidential Address given by Dr. Bruce Bartholow, Roberto’s former postdoc adviser and forever mentor.

August 08 2022

American Psychological Association

Dr. Cofresí presented at the 2022 annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), which took place Aug 4-6 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He presented EEG data from an on-going NIH/NIAAA-funded study conducted in the SCANlab at a translational symposium organized by Division 6 of the APA: Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology. Two other APA divisions (28 [Psychopharmacology], 50 [Addiction Psychology]) also featured this symposium as part of their programming at the convention.

August 01 2022

Dr. Roberto Cofresi receives NIH-NIAAA K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Career Award

Postdoctoral Fellow for 4 years in Dr. Bruce Bartholow’s SCANlab, Dr. Cofresi received a prestigious NIH-NIAAA K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Career Award and was promoted to Research Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri. His grant title is: “A translational human laboratory Pavlovian conditioning model of individual differences in risk for alcohol cue incentive salience sensitization and longitudinal assessment of problematic alcohol use.” Project #1K99AA029169

February 17 2022

Vox Magazine article discussing substance use disorder and its depiction in HBO's 'Euphoria'

VoxMagazine

The article features experts on the science of addiction, MU Professor Dr. Kenneth Sher and Dr. Roberto Cofresi, who weigh in on how HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ depicts addiction.

Dr. Cofresi explains that understanding addiction and withdrawal comes from acknowledging how it is grounded in biology and our bodies. He hopes that media portrayals of addiction will get people talking and inspire those suffering from substance use disorders to get help.

“I’ve seen treatment of a variety of kinds, psychological realm, group therapy and individual therapy, help people improve their lives and functioning so they can experience whatever beautiful tragic thing is the human experience,” Cofresí says.

Click here for the full Vox Magazine article

The article was also featured in the Missouri Center for Addiction Research and Engagement (click to read the article in MO-CARE)

June 27 2021

MO-CARE

MO-CARE

Kristin Black wrote a piece about Roberto Cofresí for the Missouri Center for Addiction Research and Engagement (MO-CARE). The article talks about Roberto’s experience with MO-CARE, and how the integrated approach of MO-CARE was an opportunity for him to combine his expertise in pre-clinical models, basic science research and human psychology to pursue interdisciplinary answers to the puzzle of addiction.

Click here to read the full article