Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Brain Imaging and Emotions Laboratory
University of Chicago
Department of Psychiatry
5841 South Maryland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773-834-5954
Fax: 773-834-4536
Email: luan@uchicago.edu
Research Interests
Research in the Brain Imaging and Emotions Laboratory (BIEL) focuses on identifying the neural
mechanisms that contribute to complex cognitive, social, and emotional behaviors and psychiatric
disorders. Themes of interest include cognitive-emotion interactions and affective regulation,
individual differences in emotional processing, social cognition, and effects of therapeutic intervention/pharmacologic
manipulation. These themes are explored using functional neuroimaging (fMRI) which aims to assess
emotion functioning in discreet brain circuits within individuals. We aim to develop an integrative model for
brain function and mental illness, and with that goal, we are also engaged in collaborative efforts that combine
fMRI with other human neuroscience methodologies, including psychophysiologic, behavioral, and genetic assays,
and other imaging modalities that examine brain electrophysiology (ERP, SSPT) and neurochemistry (MRS). While
research in the Laboratory focuses on the functional neuroanatomy of anxiety disorders, we are also engaged in
joint efforts with other faculty in the Department in neuroimaging studies of emotion in patients with impulsive
aggression, personality disorders, substance abuse, and depression.
Current Studies
Neuro-Genetic Markers of SSRI Treatment Response in Social Anxiety Disorder (Principal Investigator)
The Effects of Psychoactive Drugs on Perception and Memory of Images with Affective Content (Principal Investigator)
fMRI of Social-Emotional Interactions in Anxiety Disorders (Principal Investigator)
Anxiolytic Modulation of Cortio-Limbic Reactivity to Emotion (Principal Investigator)
Neural Substrates of Interpreting Emotional Ambiguity in Social Anxiety (Principal Investigator)
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies in Emotion: Paradigm Development (Principal Investigator)
Use of High Field Real-Time fMRI to Examine Brain Circuits Involved in Affective Regulation in Patients with Bipolar Disorder (Co-Principal Investigator)
fMRI of Socio-Emotional Information Processing in IED (Co-Investigator)
Acute Drug Effects on Social Cognition: Behavioral and fMRI Studies (Co-Investigator)
Functional MRI Studies of Emotion in Impulsive Aggression, supplement to Fluoxetine and Divalproex: Treatment Correlates in IED (Co-Investigator)
An fMRI Study of Information Processing Among Individuals With and Without a History of Suicide Attempts (Co-Investigator)
The Functional Neuroanatomy of Information Processing among Individuals with and without Impulsive Aggression (Co-Investigator)
Benzodiazepine Receptor Sensitivity in Personality Disorder: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pilot Study (Co-Investigator)
Brain Imaging of Tobacco Craving using fMRI (Co-Investigator)
Integrative Functional Imaging of Cognition in the Developing Brain (Co-Investigator)
fMRI of Alcohol-induced Urge to Smoke (Co-Investigator)
Selected Publications
2006 and In Press
Phan KL, Taylor SF, Fig LM, Britton JC, Liberzon I (2006). Corticolimbic blood flow during non-traumatic emotional processing in posttraumatic stress disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 63:184-192.
Nathan PJ, Segrave R, Phan KL, O'Neill B, Croft RJ (2006). Direct evidence that acutely enhancing serotonin with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram modulates the loudness dependence of the auditory evoked potential (LDAEP) marker of central serotonin function. Human Psychopharmacology 21:47-52.
Phan KL, Fitzgerald DA, Nathan PJ, Tancer ME (In Press). Association between amygdala hyperactivity to harsh faces and severity of social anxiety symptoms in generalized social phobia. Biological Psychiatry.
Britton JC, Phan KL, Taylor SF, Welsh RC, Berridge KC, Liberzon I (In Press). Neural correlates of social and nonsocial emotions: An fMRI Study. Neuroimage.
Fitzgerald DA, Angstadt M, Jelsone L, Nathan PJ, Phan KL (In Press). Beyond threat: Amygdala reactivity across multiple expressions of facial affect. Neuroimage.
2005
Green A, Ellis KA, Ellis J, Barthomomeusz CF, Ilic S, Croft RJ, Phan KL, Nathan PJ (2005). Muscarinic and Nicotinic Receptor Modulation of Object and Spatial n-back Working Memory in Humans. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior 81(3):575-584.
Cortese B, Phan KL (2005). The role of glutamate in anxiety and related disorders. CNS Spectrums 10(10):820-830.
Phan KL, Fitzgerald DA, Nathan PJ, Moore GJ, Uhde TW, Tancer ME (2005). Neural substrates for voluntary suppression of negative affect: a functional magnetic resonance study. Biological Psychiatry 57(3):210-219.
Phan KL, Fitzgerald DA, Cortese BM, Seraji-Bozgorzad N, Tancer ME, Moore GJ (2005). Anterior cingulate neurochemistry in social anxiety disorder: 1H-MRS at 4 Tesla. Neuroreport 16(2):183-186.
Phan KL, Magalhaes A, Ziemlewicz TJ, Fitzgerald DA, Green C, Smith W (2005). Neural correlates of voluntary deception: a 4T fMRI study. Academic Radiology 12(2):164-172.
McCloskey MS, Phan KL, Coccaro EF (2005). Neuroimaging and personality disorders. Current Psychiatry Reports 7(1):65-72.
Britton J, Phan KL, Fig LM, Taylor SF, Liberzon I (2005). Cortico-limbic blood flow in posttraumatic stress disorder during script driven imagery. Biological Psychiatry 57(8):832-840.
Taylor SF, Phan KL, Britton JC, Liberzon I (2005). Neural response to emotional salience in schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology 30(5):984-995.
Green A, Ellis KA, Ellis J, Barthomomeusz CF, Ilic S, Croft RJ, Phan KL, Nathan PJ (In Press). Muscarinic and Nicotinic Receptor Modulation of Object and Spatial n-back Working Memory in Humans. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior.
2004
Phan KL, Taylor SF, Welsh RC, Ho H-S, Britton JC, Liberzon I (2004). Neural correlates of emotional salience: a trial-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study. NeuroImage 21:768-780.
Phan KL, Fitzgerald DA, Gao K, Moore GJ, Tancer ME, Posse S (2004). Real-time fMRI of cortico-limbic brain activity during emotional processing. NeuroReport 15:527-532.
Taylor SF, Welsh RC, Wager TD, Phan KL, Fitzgerald KD, Gehring W (2004). A functional neuroimaging study of motivation and executive function. NeuroImage 21:1045-1054.
Phan KL, Wager TD, Taylor SF, Liberzon I (2004). Functional brain imaging studies of human emotion. CNS Spectrums 9(4):258-266.
Hayasaka S, Phan KL, Liberzon I, Worsley KJ, Nichols TE (2004). Non-stationary cluster size inference with random field and permutation methods. NeuroImage 22(2):676-687.
Lu K, Gray MA, Oliver C, Liley DT, Harrison BJ, Bartholomeusz CF, Phan KL, Nathan PJ (2004). The acute effects of L-theanine in comparison to alprazolam on anticipatory anxiety in humans. Humam Psychopharmacology 19:457-465.
Erskine FF, Elllis J, Ellis KA, Stuber E, Hogan K, Miller V, Moore E, Bartholomeusz C, Harrison B, Lee B, Phan KL, Liley DT, Nathan P (2004). Evidence for synergistic modulation of early information processing by nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in humans. Human Psychopharmacology 19:503-509.
Fitzgerald DA, Posse S, Moore GJ, Tancer ME, Nathan PJ, Phan KL (2004). Neural correlates of internally-generated disgust via autobiographical recall: A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation. Neuroscience Letters 370:91-96.
2003
Phan KL, Taylor SF, Welsh RC, Decker LR, Nichols TE, Noll DC, Britton JC, Liberzon I (2003). Activation of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Extended Amygdala by Individual Ratings of Emotional Arousal: An fMRI Study. Biological Psychiatry 53:211-215.
Taylor SF, Phan KL, Decker LR, Liberzon I (2003). Subjective rating of emotionally salient stimuli modulates limbic activity. NeuroImage 18:650-659.
Phan KL, Liberzon I, Welsh RC, Britton JC, Taylor SF (2003). Habituation of rostral anterior cingulate cortex to repeated emotionally salient pictures. Neuropsychopharmacology 28:1344-1350.
Liberzon I, Phan KL, Decker LR, Taylor SF (2003). Extended amygdala and emotional salience: A PET investigation of positive and negative affect. Neuropsychopharmacology 28:726-733.
Wager TD, Phan KL, Liberzon I, Taylor SF (2003). Valence, gender, and lateralization of functional brain anatomy in emotion: A meta-analysis of findings from neuroimaging. NeuroImage 19:513-531.
Liberzon I, Phan KL, Khan S, Abelson JL. Role of GABA-A receptors in anxiety (2003). Evidence from animal models, clinical psychopharmacology, and neuroimaging studies. Current Neuropharmacology 1:267-283.
Liberzon I, Phan KL (2003). Brain imaging studies of posttraumatic stress disorder. CNS Spectrums 8:625-634.
Liberzon I, Britton JC, Phan KL (2003). Neural correlates of traumatic recall in posttraumatic stress disorder. Stress 6:151-156.
2002
Liberzon I, Zubieta JK, Fig LM, Phan KL, Koeppe RA, Taylor SF (2002). Mu-Opiod receptors and limbic responses to aversive emotional stimuli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States of America (PNAS) 99:7084-7089.
Phan KL, Wager TD, Taylor SF, Liberzon (2002). Functional Neuroanatomy of Emotion: a Meta-Analysis of Emotion Activation Studies in PET and fMRI. NeuroImage 16:331-348.