The Substance Use, Psychopathology, and Neurodevelopment (SPAN) Lab is based in the Department of Psychiatry at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. We investigate the neurobiological pathways linking substance use, psychopathology, and brain maturation across adolescence and young adulthood.

Adolescence is a sensitive period of brain maturation during which exposure to substances and the emergence of psychopathology can have lasting consequences. Our lab uses large-scale longitudinal neuroimaging cohorts—including the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, IMAGEN, and ENIGMA-Addiction—to characterize how alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and other substances affect developing brain structure and function.

We also examine how internalizing and externalizing psychopathology co-occur with substance use, and how neurodevelopmental trajectories from childhood through young adulthood moderate risk and resilience. Our methodological approaches include structural and functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and computational modeling of cognitive processes.

Key Research Questions

• How does adolescent substance use alter the trajectory of brain development?
• What neurobiological mechanisms link psychopathology and substance use risk?
• Can neuroimaging measures serve as biomarkers for substance use vulnerability?
• How do cognitive control processes relate to substance use behavior in youth?

Data Resources

Our work draws primarily on three large-scale cohorts:

• ABCD Study — The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study is the largest long-term study of brain development in the United States, following over 10,000 children from ages 9–10 into early adulthood.
• IMAGEN — A European longitudinal neuroimaging and genetics study of adolescent mental health and substance use, spanning multiple sites across Europe.
• ENIGMA-Addiction — A global neuroimaging consortium focused on identifying robust brain signatures associated with substance use disorders.