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Beatriz Luna, PhD

  • Staunton Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
  • Professor of Psychology
  • Director, Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development

Administrative Assistant: Nathan Rockcastle

Beatriz Luna, PhD is the Staunton Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the founder and Director of the Laboratory for Neurocognitive Development, The Editor in Chief of the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and the founder and president of the Flux Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Her research uses multimodal neuroimaging methods including: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) as well as cognitive testing to understand the brain mechanisms underlying development through adolescence when adult trajectories are defined. She has been the recipient of numerous awards notably the US Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. Her more than 130 publications, have led to influential developmental models emphasizing the implications of specialization of different brain systems through adolescence informing normative and impaired development. 

Education & Training

  • BA, Psychology, American University, 1984
  • MA, Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University, 1985
  • PhD, Developmental Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 1996
  • Postdoctoral Training, Neurobehavioral Studies, Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, 1995-1997

Selected Publications

Constantinidis C, Luna B. Neural Substrates of Inhibitory Control Maturation in Adolescence. Trends Neurosci. 2019 Sep;42(9):604-616. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.07.004. Epub 2019 Aug 20. Review. PubMed PMID: 31443912; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6721973.

Calabro FJ, Murty VP, Jalbrzikowski M, Tervo-Clemmens B, Luna B. Development of Hippocampal-Prefrontal Cortex Interactions through Adolescence. Cereb Cortex. 2019 Oct 31. pii: bhz186. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz186. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31670797.

Postema MC, van Rooij D, Anagnostou E, Arango C, Auzias G, Behrmann M, Filho GB, Calderoni S, Calvo R, Daly E, Deruelle C, Di Martino A, Dinstein I, Duran FLS, Durston S, Ecker C, Ehrlich S, Fair D, Fedor J, Feng X, Fitzgerald J, Floris DL, Freitag CM, Gallagher L, Glahn DC, Gori I, Haar S, Hoekstra L, Jahanshad N, Jalbrzikowski M, Janssen J, King JA, Kong XZ, Lazaro L, Lerch JP, Luna B, Martinho MM, McGrath J, Medland SE, Muratori F, Murphy CM, Murphy DGM, O'Hearn K, Oranje B, Parellada M, Puig O, Retico A, Rosa P, Rubia K, Shook D, Taylor MJ, Tosetti M, Wallace GL, Zhou F, Thompson PM, Fisher SE, Buitelaar JK, Francks C. Altered structural brain asymmetry in autism spectrum disorder in a study of 54 datasets. Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 31;10(1):4958. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13005-8. PubMed PMID: 31673008; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6823355.

McLean SA, Ressler K, Koenen KC, Neylan T, Germine L, Jovanovic T, Clifford GD, Zeng D, An X, Linnstaedt S, Beaudoin F, House S, Bollen KA, Musey P, Hendry P, Jones CW, Lewandowski C, Swor R, Datner E, Mohiuddin K, Stevens JS, Storrow A, Kurz MC, McGrath ME, Fermann GJ, Hudak LA, Gentile N, Chang AM, Peak DA, Pascual JL, Seamon MJ, Sergot P, Peacock WF, Diercks D, Sanchez LD, Rathlev N, Domeier R, Haran JP, Pearson C, Murty VP, Insel TR, Dagum P, Onnela JP, Bruce SE, Gaynes BN, Joormann J, Miller MW, Pietrzak RH, Buysse DJ, Pizzagalli DA, Rauch SL, Harte SE, Young LJ, Barch DM, Lebois LAM, van Rooij SJH, Luna B, Smoller JW, Dougherty RF, Pace TWW, Binder E, Sheridan JF, Elliott JM, Basu A, Fromer M, Parlikar T, Zaslavsky AM, Kessler R. The AURORA Study: a longitudinal, multimodal library of brain biology and function after traumatic stress exposure. Mol Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 19. doi: 10.1038/s41380-019-0581-3. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 31745239.

Hagler DJ Jr, Hatton S, Cornejo MD, Makowski C, Fair DA, Dick AS, Sutherland MT, Casey BJ, Barch DM, Harms MP, Watts R, Bjork JM, Garavan HP, Hilmer L, Pung CJ, Sicat CS, Kuperman J, Bartsch H, Xue F, Heitzeg MM, Laird AR, Trinh TT, Gonzalez R, Tapert SF, Riedel MC, Squeglia LM, Hyde LW, Rosenberg MD, Earl EA, Howlett KD, Baker FC, Soules M, Diaz J, de Leon OR, Thompson WK, Neale MC, Herting M, Sowell ER, Alvarez RP, Hawes SW, Sanchez M, Bodurka J, Breslin FJ, Morris AS, Paulus MP, Simmons WK, Polimeni JR, van der Kouwe A, Nencka AS, Gray KM, Pierpaoli C, Matochik JA, Noronha A, Aklin WM, Conway K, Glantz M, Hoffman E, Little R, Lopez M, Pariyadath V, Weiss SR, Wolff-Hughes DL, DelCarmen-Wiggins R, Feldstein Ewing SW, Miranda-Dominguez O, Nagel BJ, Perrone AJ, Sturgeon DT, Goldstone A, Pfefferbaum A, Pohl KM, Prouty D, Uban K, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M, Galvan A, Bagot K, Giedd J, Infante MA, Jacobus J, Patrick K, Shilling PD, Desikan R, Li Y, Sugrue L, Banich MT, Friedman N, Hewitt JK, Hopfer C, Sakai J, Tanabe J, Cottler LB, Nixon SJ, Chang L, Cloak C, Ernst T, Reeves G, Kennedy DN, Heeringa S, Peltier S, Schulenberg J, Sripada C, Zucker RA, Iacono WG, Luciana M, Calabro FJ, Clark DB, Lewis DA, Luna B, Schirda C, Brima T, Foxe JJ, Freedman EG, Mruzek DW, Mason MJ, Huber R, McGlade E, Prescot A, Renshaw PF, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Allgaier NA, Dumas JA, Ivanova M, Potter A, Florsheim P, Larson C, Lisdahl K, Charness ME, Fuemmeler B, Hettema JM, Maes HH, Steinberg J, Anokhin AP, Glaser P, Heath AC, Madden PA, Baskin-Sommers A, Constable RT, Grant SJ, Dowling GJ, Brown SA, Jernigan TL, Dale AM. Image processing and analysis methods for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Neuroimage. 2019 Nov 15;202:116091. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116091. Epub 2019 Aug 12. PubMed PMID: 31415884.

O'Hearn K, Larsen B, Fedor J, Luna B, Lynn A. Representational similarity analysis reveals atypical age-related changes in brain regions supporting face and car recognition in autism. Neuroimage. 2019 Nov 28:116322. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116322. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31786166.

Tarcijonas G, Foran W, Blazer A, Eack SM, Luna B, Sarpal DK. Independent support for corticopallidal contributions to schizophrenia-related functional impairment. Schizophr Res. 2019 Dec 24. pii: S0920-9964(19)30576-6. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.12.006. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31882276.

Marek S, Tervo-Clemmens B, Nielsen AN, Wheelock MD, Miller RL, Laumann TO, Earl E, Foran WW, Cordova M, Doyle O, Perrone A, Miranda-Dominguez O, Feczko E, Sturgeon D, Graham A, Hermosillo R, Snider K, Galassi A, Nagel BJ, Ewing SWF, Eggebrecht AT, Garavan H, Dale AM, Greene DJ, Barch DM, Fair DA, Luna B, Dosenbach NUF. Identifying reproducible individual differences in childhood functional brain networks: An ABCD study. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2019 Dec;40:100706. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100706. Epub 2019 Sep 19. PubMed PMID: 31614255; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6927479.

Larsen B, Olafsson V, Calabro F, Laymon C, Tervo-Clemmens B, Campbell E, Minhas D, Montez D, Price J, Luna B. Maturation of the human striatal dopamine system revealed by PET and quantitative MRI. Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 12;11(1):846. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14693-3. PubMed PMID: 32051403; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7015913.

Janiri D, Doucet G E, Pompili M, Sani G, Luna B, Brent D A, Frangou S. Risk and protective factors for childhood suicidality: a US population-based study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 March 12. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30049-3

Zhao Q, Sullivan EV, Müller-Oehring EM, Honnorat N, Adeli E,  Podhajsky S, Baker F, Colrain I, Prouty D, Tapert S, Brown S, Meloy MJ, Brumback T, Nagel B, Morales A, Clark D, Luna B, De Bellis M, Voyvodic J, Pfefferbaum A, Pohl K. Adolescent Alcohol Use Disrupts Functional Neurodevelopment in Sensation Seeking Girls. Addiction Biology. In Press.

Academic and Research Interests

  • Developmental changes in dopamine processing and its effects on cognitive control and reward processing
  • Developmental changes in the ration of GABA and glutamate in prefrontal systems with development and its association with cognitive development
  • Developmental changes in brain network connectivity and association with cognitive control
  • Changes in developmental trajectories of cognitive development using longitudinal data
  • Risk for adolescent substance use
  • Neurocognitive integrity in psychosis

Research Grants

NIH R01MH080243 Developmental Changes in Striatal Neurophysiology through Adolescence (PI), National Institute on Mental Health, 2015-2020.

NIH U01DA041028 ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project (Co-I, PI; D. Clark), National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2015-2020.

NIH R01MH107540 From Irritability to Impairment: How Neurodevelopment of Executive Function and Parent-Child Neural Synchrony Influence the Transition from Normal to Abnormal Functioning (Co-I, PI: S. Perlman), 2015-2020.

NIH U01AA021690 NCANDA Research Project Site: PITT (Co-I, PI: D. Clark), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2017-2022.

NIH R01MH105538 Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Childhood Trauma on the Fetal Brain (Co-I, PI: H. Simhan), National Institute on Mental Health, 2017-2022.

NIH R01MH067924 Brain Mechanisms Underlying Plasticity in the Specialization of Cognitive Systems through the Adolescent Period (PI), National Institute on Mental Health, 2017-2022.