Welcome from the DirectorMartin P. Paulus, M.D.
Scientific Director and President "Since arriving at LIBR in 2014, I have been enormously energized by the opportunity to make a real difference using neuroscience to improve the life of patients with mental illness. At the same time, I recognize this is a very challenging task, which cannot be accomplished overnight. However, with a thoughtful eye on what is doable, we are hoping to make a measureable impact on ways to assess and treat patients within five years. We have recently completed recruitment for a major study at LIBR, the Tulsa 1000, or T-1000. The goal for this study is to determine whether neuroscience-based measures can be used to predict outcomes in patients with mental illness. In particular, we are trying to determine what factors best predict who will respond well to a particular treatment. The study is a definitive step towards developing a science-based personalized medicine approach in mental health. Unfortunately, mental health treatment providers are still using guesswork and intuition in matching treatments to patients. As a consequence mental health treatment is fundamentally a trial and error endeavor, which can result in prolonged suffering if treatments do not work. The hope is that we will be able to use scientific approaches to more precisely match patients to treatments." 
A Message from Dr. Martin Paulus on Racism and Science: A Call for Action
In science, we aim to observe, experiment, and draw conclusions from the facts. We need to learn about our differences, understand how they influence our feelings, thoughts, and actions, and develop better explanations of the human conditions that we are interested in. Outrage and anger over the events on our streets, in our laboratories, and other public or private places is not enough. Instead, open engagement with respect, interest, and love will help to develop the understanding that can be used to build new systems to reduce the pain of those in the minority. Scientists are problem solvers; we need to be thinking about our contribution to finding solutions to overcoming intolerance, anger and aggression on the one hand and discover ways of healing the pain of those that have been the target of racism.
To that end, we have started a workgroup that consists of individuals who work at LIBR to enhance the recognition that race and ethnicity play an important role to improve our scientific approach to solving mental health problems. Read more here. 
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Meet the InvestigatorsRobin Aupperle, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, LIBR Assistant Professor, University of Tulsa Volunteer Faculty Member, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma Dr. Aupperle’s research focuses on using neurocognitive methods to enhance our understanding of anxiety, depression, and trauma. She is particularly interested in: (1) The intersect between cognitive and emotional processing and how this may relate to the development and maintenance of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms. (2) How knowledge from neuroscientific research may be used to enhance treatment and prevention efforts. In regards to the former, she has conducted research related to neuropsychological correlates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has developed translational exploratory and decision-making tasks to better understand behavioral, physiological, and neural correlates of anxiety and depression. In regards to the latter, she has been involved in research investigating behavioral and neural mechanisms of current pharmacologic and behavioral treatments for anxiety, depression, and trauma-related disorders. She is also actively involved in identifying factors that support resilience to college-related stress and strategies to optimize psychological well-being for students. Research Program Highlights Main Question What are the behavioral or brain-based characteristics that best predict long-term outcomes and help to identify who will respond to what type of intervention? Future Directions To develop individually tailored anxiety, depression, and trauma interventions or prevention strategies that help patients to have better outcomes. Approach We use a multi-level approach, i.e. test patients behaviorally, physiologically, and during fMRI, to develop individual-based profiles that will help to personalize therapy treatments and develop novel behavioral interventions and prevention programs. 
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What's New & Noteworthy
The welfare of our LIBR team and all of our study participants is our utmost concern. Therefore, we have implemented the following policies as we re-open our doors to the public:
• In-person studies have resumed at our facility as of July 1st. • On-site participants will be required to complete a free COVID-19 test (nasal swab). A negative result will allow continued participation. • All participants will receive a mask to wear • LIBR staff will be wearing masks We have ongoing and new studies that are available for both remote and in-person participation. To join, please contact us at 918-502-5100, email info@libr.net or sign-up online: http://www.laureateinstitute.org/libr-sign-up.html We are continuing to conduct research that helps us to develop better diagnoses, prognoses, and treatments for people with mental health disorders and we are grateful that you continue to participate in this important work. The Tulsa Life Chart
Drs. Sahib Khalsa, Robin Aupperle, and a team of dedicated researchers at LIBR have published a paper featuring a mobile health application developed during the 4-year Tulsa 1000 study at LIBR. The Tulsa Life Chart (TLC), uses information provided during a survey to create a web-based graphic representation of an individual's life history to make it easier for clinicians to effectively diagnose and provide treatment for medical and mental health conditions. Full publication: Web-Based Graphic Representation of the Life Course of Mental Health: Cross-Sectional Study Across the Spectrum of Mood, Anxiety, Eating, and Substance Use Disorders Authors: Robin Aupperle, PhD; Martin P Paulus, MD; Rayus Kuplicki, PhD; James Touthang, BSc; Teresa Victor, PhD; Hung-Wen Yeh, PhD; Tulsa 1000 Investigators; Sahib S Khalsa, MD, PhD |
William K. Warren Jr. "Frontiers in Neuroscience" Conferences Series
October 6, 2020
Speaker: Jennifer Blackford, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, and a Research Scientist at the Tennessee Valley VA
Topic: "What Causes Anxiety? Building a Reverse Translational Model"
Location: Virtual (please email for access)
Time: 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Presentation
Speaker: Jennifer Blackford, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, and a Research Scientist at the Tennessee Valley VA
Topic: "What Causes Anxiety? Building a Reverse Translational Model"
Location: Virtual (please email for access)
Time: 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Presentation
The William K. Warren Foundation
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The Laureate Institute for Brain Research opened May 1, 2009 and currently houses a multidisciplinary team of scientists and clinical research staff who apply neuroimaging, genetic, pharmacological and neuropsychological tools to investigate the biology of neuropsychiatric disorders. The Institute's creation was founded by The William K. Warren Foundation for the purpose of conducting studies aimed at developing more effective treatments or prevention strategies for these disorders. The William K. Warren Foundation continues to be the lead sponsor of LIBR research studies, which are led by scientists from diverse backgrounds, including physics, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, developmental neuroscience, computer science and genetics.
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