Pitt LIFE Lab

It is important to continue to reach out and stay connected with others during this time. Social connectedness has been proven to boost levels of happiness, belonging, and reduced levels of stress. We encourage you to call or reach out virtually to any family, friends, and loved ones!

We hope everyone and their families are staying healthy and safe during this time. We know that these are unprecedented times, and that this was an unexpected end to our semester here at the University of Pittsburgh. We strongly encourage you to practice social distancing at this time, and to remember that the University Counseling Center is available by phone or email to all students. We hope that the transition to virtual learning has been going well for all students, faculty, and members of our University community!

Stay up to date with Dr. Hanson’s work and make sure to check out his recent publications! His work provides insight on how early life stressors impact development in children and adolescents. More information can be found at http://jamiehanson.org/ and his Twitter account .

Jamie Hanson : University of Pittsburgh

“Interested in learning more about our lab? Make sure to check out http://www.lifelab.pitt.edu/index.html for more information about our current studies and for ways to get involved!”

LIFE Lab at the University of Pittsburgh

We are all so excited for another semester here at the University of Pittsburgh's LIFE Lab, and we hope you all had a great winter break! We are very excited to be welcoming new Undergraduate Research Assistants to our team as well as running 3 studies this semester: Family Dynamics, PERSIST, and FInD. Stay tuned for updates with our studies and more introductions of our lab members!

Debbie Bitran graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience. She decided to come to Pitt for their joint PhD programs, and she is now working towards a joint PhD in cognitive and developmental psychology. For years, she has worked in labs that focus on childhood trauma and adversity because she believes that it is a serious public health problem that can have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects on survivors. She has teamed up with Dr. Hanson to help develop practical applications of the findings to help people in their daily lives. Outside of the lab, she champions Noodlehead as one of the most delicious restaurants in Pittsburgh and could eat their noodles all day.

This Saturday, from 8am to 4pm, a Thanksgiving Distribution will be held at the David Lawrence Convention center to provide 900 families with food for this special meal. The event also aims to connect families with different research teams. Our team will be running a table at the event, so make sure to stop by, say hi, and learn more about the awesome studies happening at Pitt Life Lab. Flu shots will also be available to the families attending the event to complete this day of food, health and more.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium (DANS for short) is underway, and we’re ready to learn! With the conference in our own backyard, our entire core team of researchers are excited to go! The conference hosts some of the cool research that’s happening in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience today. This year the theme of the conference is development, so discussions and presentations will cover anything from how caregiver behavior affects the neurobiology of infants to the role of the hormones in adolescence.

Get to Know Our Grads!!

Isabella Kahhale graduated from Tufts University in Boston with a degree in Cognitive &Brain Sciences and a minor in English. Before coming to Pitt for graduate school, she worked as a research coordinator at the Standford Social Neuroscience Lab, organizing projects looking into people’s emotional reactions to victim and defendant narratives of courtroom cases. If she had $5 million to create her ideal study, she’d use the money to work on a mindfulness intervention program to help prisoners around the world with their rehabilitation. Her ideals carry her into the future as she hopes to produce research with our lab that will help to influence legislative policies that could improve people’s lives. When she’s not out to save the world, Isabella enjoys exploring the Strip District during Pittsburgh’s sunny days.

Labs that escape rooms together, thrive together. Only 20% of people make it out of the Newsroom victorious. We’re researchers turned detectives, and we just managed to make it out with 8 minutes to spare.

It may be the spooky season, but our URAs beat the scariest monsters of all: MIDTERMS!!! They're back in the lab refreshed, well-rested, and enjoying a break from studying.

Another conference down and on to the next! Grad student, Esther Palacios-Barrios, presented her research on how economic stress affects adolescent development at the 2019 Ford Conference San Juan, Puerto Rico. Oh, the places you’ll go... with research!!