RISC Lab

Risk-taking, Impulsivity, Substance Use, and Cognition lab

The Risk-taking, Impulsivity, Substance Use, and Cognition (RISC) lab studies how impulsivity and its neurocognitive underpinnings influence a wide range of risk-taking behaviors, including alcohol use, substance abuse, and sexual risk-taking.

We are particularly interested in how emotions and impulsive tendencies combine and interact to impart risk for psychological disorders and maladaptive behaviors. We’re also interested in identifying how the brain is implicated in such risk and how we can best leverage brain function to reduce risks associated with impulsive action.

Join the lab

As a research assistant in the RISC lab, you will gain hands-on research experience, collaborate with a professor who is an expert in her field, and get to know other professors and graduate students at IUPUI.

Apply now

Melissa Cyders, Ph.D.

Dr. Cyders earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2009 under the mentorship of Dr. Greg Smith. She completed her predoctoral internship at the VA Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan Medical Center. She is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at IUPUI in the Clinical Psychology graduate program area.

Her research concerns how impulsivity and its neurocognitive underpinnings impart risk for a wide range of clinical problems and disorders. She is most well known for her contributions to the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Model and her work with integrating emotions and impulsive action. She uses a wide range of methods and procedures in her research, from brain imaging, to laboratory-based oral and intravenous alcohol administration, to longitudinal survey designs.

Dr. Cyders is enthusiastic about mentoring students of all levels and teaches courses in Clinical Neuroscience, Ethics and Diversity, and Practicum in Clinical Psychology. She and her lab have received funding from NIAAA for their work and she is a co-PI in the prestigious Indiana Alcohol Research Center.

Education

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, 2009
University of Kentucky

Clinical Psychology Internship, 2009
VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan Medical School

M.S. Clinical Psychology, 2005
University of Kentucky

B.A. Spanish, 2003
Ohio University

B.A. Psychology, 2003
Ohio University

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Publications

See Dr. Cyders' complete list of publications on Google Scholar.

Research projects

The goal of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center is to understand the neurocognitive and physiological changes associated with long-term alcohol use in both animal and human models and how these changes contribute to the habitual alcohol use.

The goal of the human project is to evaluate the brain changes associated with long-term alcohol use that contributes to aversion resistant drinking. This project is a P60 grant funded by NIAAA.

The goal of this project is to characterize the human post abstinence response in the lab as well as community and understand its underlying mechanisms in moderate-heavy drinkers. There is a critical unfilled need to understand accelerated disease progression among women and our lab-based assessment coupled to longitudinal follow-up provides the rigorous experimental design to begin to meet that need.

This project will increase our scientific knowledge by advancing the translation between preclinical and clinical models, eventually informing sex-specific intervention and prevention strategies for problematic drinking and establishing a model to test those interventions. This project is an R01 grant funded by NIAAA.

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is a life-long disorder; however, most research and treatment use short-term approaches and follow-up. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is successful for short-term recovery from OUD, which has improved survival rates. This has resulted in a critical need to know how best to support individuals in long-term OUD recovery.

The goals of this project are: 1) Establish normative data on long-term recovery course of OUD across patients, community supports, and providers and 2) Quantify the impact of MAT on long-term recovery from OUD.

Meeting these goals will reduce OUD overdose and incidence by 1) Developing a comprehensive guide to best practices for MAT in long-term OUD recovery; 2) Characterizing normative data on recovery course(s) that can guide appropriate recovery expectations and reduce stigma; and 3) Providing proof of concept to strengthen subsequent federal funding applications studying long-term OUD recovery. This project is funded by the Indiana University Addictions Grand Challenge Program.

Grants and awards

Indiana University Grand Challenge Project

Active 2018 - 2023

Characterizing the Course of Long-Term Opioid Use Disorder Recovery and the Impact of Medication Assisted Treatment on Opioid Use Disorder Recovery
PI: Cyders

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award

Active 2019 - 2021

F31AA026767
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
The role of positive urgency in alcohol-related risk-taking: a behavioral and neuroscientific investigation
PI: Um. Primary Mentor: Cyders

Research Project Grant

Active 2018 - 2023

R01AA027236
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Sex Differences in the Response to Abstinence from Alcohol
PI's: Plawecki and Cyders

Indiana Alcohol Research Center Grant

Active 2017 - 2022

P60 AA007611
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
PI: Kareken. PI's on Research Component 5: Human alcohol seeking despite aversion: Plawecki and Cyders

Indiana University Grand Challenge Project

Active 2017 - 2020

Brief DBT skills program to reduce adolescent drug use in a school-based setting
PIs: Zapolski, Cyders, Salyers, Wu, and Aalsma

iPREP: IUPUI Graduate Preparation for the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences

Active 2013 - 2022

R25 GM109432
PI: Burr. Mentor and Liaison for Clinical Psychology area: Cyders

IUPUI Alcohol Training Grant

Active 2013 - 2020

5T32AA007462
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
PI: Czachowski. Preceptor: Cyders

Join the lab

Research assistant

We are always looking for hard working, dependable students to join the RISC lab.

Working in a lab as a research assistant allows you to gain some great experience and serious credentials that will help you in your future career path. As a research assistant in the RISC Lab, you will gain hands-on research experience, collaborate with a professor who is an expert in her field, and get to know other professors and graduate students at IUPUI through joint lab meetings.

Apply now

Post-baccalaureate fellowship

The Indiana University-Purdue University Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (IPREP) prepares recent college graduates, who are students from underrepresented minority or disadvantaged populations, for admission to graduate programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.

If you are interested in completing a year-long, post-baccalaureate fellowship in the RISC lab, learn more about the IPREP program.

Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program

For those interested in applying to work in the RISC lab as part of the IUPUI Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Cyders is planning on accepting a new student to work in the RISC Lab starting in Fall 2021.

Learn more about the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program.

RISC Lab

Risk-taking, Impulsivity, Substance Use, and Cognition lab

Join the lab

Melissa Cyders, Ph.D.

Education

Publications

Research projects

Indiana Alcohol Research Center Human Component

Sex Differences in the Response to Abstinence From Alcohol

Characterizing the Course of Long-Term Opioid Use Disorder Recovery

Grants and awards

Indiana University Grand Challenge Project

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award

Research Project Grant

Indiana Alcohol Research Center Grant

Indiana University Grand Challenge Project

iPREP: IUPUI Graduate Preparation for the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences

IUPUI Alcohol Training Grant

Join the lab

Research assistant

Post-baccalaureate fellowship

Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program