We are thrilled to welcome Devon Terry, B.A., as the newest member of our lab!
Devon is the Research Coordinator for Sips and Shapes (R00AA029169 PI: Cofresi).
She holds dual B.A. degrees in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Missouri, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
In her previous role as a Research Coordinator at the Health Neuroscience Center at the University of Missouri’s Department of Psychiatry, she coordinated NIH-funded studies on smoking cessation, investigating the neural mechanisms mediating addiction. In this role, she oversaw clinical trials, managed a research team, and supervised the collection of complex data including MRI, behavioral tasks, and biological specimens.
Previously, Devon worked as a Research Assistant in the Social Cognitive and Addiction Neuroscience Lab, where she collected EEG data, and administered clinical interviews for another NIH/NIAAA-funded study. As a McNair Scholar, she completed a thesis on depression and alcohol-drinking coping motives, integrating clinical interview data with ecological momentary assessment techniques.
Her unique training history and experience means Sips and Shapes is in good hands! We look forward to incorporating her insights into the upcoming Sips and Shapes studies and watching her grow as an active member of our lab and the broader addiction training group in the department.
Update: we’re happy to announce that the position has been filled. The application links have been removed. Thank you!
Job Description
Join the research community in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, a vibrant group conducting cutting edge science in the field alcohol and addiction.
The Cofresi lab is a new lab interested in understanding the role of learning and memory about rewards like foods, drinks, and drugs in human behavior. Our mission is to translate and verify basic and intervention-related findings from preclinical addiction neuroscience laboratories into the human laboratory and bridge the gap to clinical applications and testing.
Our current focus is on the role of conditioned cue reactivity and incentive salience in eating, drinking, and drug use with a focus on alcohol use. We use psychophysiological methods, especially EEG and fMRI, to study and localize the neurocognitive correlates of reward learning and memory as well as reward anticipation and consumption, including the post-ingestive consequences of drugs like alcohol.
We are seeking a motivated, organized, and driven research coordinator with an interest in these areas of research to assist in launching a series of EEG and fMRI studies in the lab. You will work directly with Dr. Sandie Keerstock, Dr. Roberto Cofresi-Bonilla, and a small cohort of undergraduate research assistants.
Undergraduate researchers Camila Gutierrez and Katelyn Matzdorf presented their independent projects in poster form at the 2024 Mizzou Show Me Research Week. Poster judges agreed that Camila and Katelyn did a fantastic job.
Thanks to an invitation from Dr. Ksenija Marinkovic and the Rising Star Lecture Series, Dr. Roberto Cofresí visited San Diego State University to connect with faculty, staff, and students interested in human laboratory-based addiction-related neuroscience. He gave a talk titled “Incentive salience & alcohol sensitivity.”
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
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
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).
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!
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”
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.
Various Pavlovian conditioning protocols involving rapid intra-oral liquid delivery and EEG recording were piloted, one of which became the K99 study protocol.
Dr. Cofresí visited the laboratory of Dr. David Kareken (K99/R00 advisory committee member) at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana. During his visit, he presented his research agenda to the faculty of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center, a group of pre-clinical non-human animal and clinical human subjects researchers.
Dr. Cofresí presented at the 2022 annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), which took place Aug 4-6 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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.
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)
Dr. Roberto Cofresi shared with The New Yorker Magazine his insights about neurobiology of conditioned behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse. Click here for the full The New Yorker article
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
