Lilianne Mujica-Parodi
Research Focus
"Complex systems" is a rapidly emerging field that unifies and integrates many disciplines, from physics to economics to anthropology. Its methods describe systems that contain two or more components that interact with one another in meaningful and mathematically nontrivial ways. Using a variety of methodologies, including functional MRI, 24-hour ECG, EMG, EEG, SCR, endocrine sampling, and neurosychological testing, our Laboratory for the Study of Emotion & Cognition focuses on the relationships between four simultaneously or near-simultaneously interacting systems: neural, cardiac, endocrine, and cognitive, to better understand the neurobiology of arousal, fear, and stress. We work with both healthy and patient populations in understanding arousal and its effects on cognition. Different research protocols investigate the causes of normal variability in healthy individuals’ vulnerability and resilience to stress, as well as the etiology of mental illnesses with strong emotional components, particularly paranoid schizophrenia. Our use of multi-system protocols is grounded on the hypothesis that limbic regulatory mechanisms, which make heavy use of compensatory and feed-back mechanisms to maintain homeostasis, are likely to play an instrumental role in the development of psychosis. One important implication of this hypothesis is that the answer to the question: “What is broken?” in psychosis may not necessarily be recognized by an abnormally high or low value of any particular variable (for example, cortisol, or skin conductance response), but might instead depend upon an abnormal relationship between variables. If psychosis is indeed the result of “limbic dysregulation,” then it is theoretically possible that every value of every variable may be within normal range, but that the regulatory mechanisms that control activation and inhibition are disturbed. These regulatory mechanisms, which by definition depend upon relationships between variables rather than on individual variables, may be critical to symptom formation in an illness as complex and heterogeneous as schizophrenia.
Education
- Fellow 1998-2001 (Psychiatry, Clinical Neuroscience); Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York, NY)
- Ph.D. 1993-1998 Columbia University (New York, NY)
- B.A. 1988-1992 Georgetown University (Washington, DC)
Professional Experience
- Assistant Professor 2003-present Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University
- Assistant Professor of Clinical Neuroscience 2001-2003 Laboratory of Clinical Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
- Visiting Scientist 2000-2003 Department of Medical Physics—Center for Advanced Brain Imaging (CABI), Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research
Honors
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders Young Investigator Award 2000-2003
- Niles Whiting Dissertation Fellowship Award 1998-1999
Professional Societies Membership
- Society for Neuroscience
- Organization for Human Brain Mapping
- Cognitive Neuroscience Society
- Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases
- Society for Cognitive Science
- New England Complex Systems Institute
Publications
Selected Peer-Reviewed Articles- 1. Mujica-Parodi, L.R., Renelique, R. & Taylor, M.K. Higher body fat percentage is associated with increased cortisol reactivity and impaired cognitive resilience in response to acute emotional stress. Int J Obes (Lond) (2008).
- 2. Radulescu, A.R. & Mujica-Parodi, L.R. A systems approach to prefrontal-limbic dysregulation in schizophrenia. Neuropsychobiology 57, 206-216 (2008).
- 3. Taylor, M.K., et al. Physical fitness influences stress reactions to extreme military training. Mil Med 173, 738-742 (2008).
- 4. Taylor, M.K., et al. Stressful military training: endocrine reactivity, performance, and psychological impact. Aviat Space Environ Med 78, 1143-1149 (2007).
- 5. Mujica-Parodi, L.R., et al. Limbic dysregulation is associated with lowered heart rate variability and increased trait anxiety in healthy adults. Hum Brain Mapp (2007).
- 6. Taylor, M.K., et al. Neurophysiologic methods to measure stress during survival, evasion, resistance, and escape training. Aviat Space Environ Med 78, B224-230 (2007).
- 7. Mujica-Parodi, L.R., Yeragani, V. & Malaspina, D. Nonlinear complexity and spectral analyses of heart rate variability in medicated and unmedicated patients with schizophrenia. Neuropsychobiology 51, 10-15 (2005).
- 8. Malaspina, D., et al. Resting neural activity distinguishes subgroups of schizophrenia patients. Biol Psychiatry 56, 931-937 (2004).
- 9. Malaspina, D., et al. The reliability and clinical correlates of figure-ground perception in schizophrenia. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 16, 277-283 (2004).
- 10. Mujica-Parodi, L.R., Corcoran, C., Greenberg, T., Sackeim, H.A. & Malaspina, D. Are cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia mediated by abnormalities in emotional arousal? CNS Spectr 7, 58-60, 65-59 (2002).
- 11. Corcoran, C., Mujica-Parodi, L., Yale, S., Leitman, D. & Malaspina, D. Could stress cause psychosis in individuals vulnerable to schizophrenia? CNS Spectr 7, 33-38, 41-32 (2002).
- 12. Malaspina, D., et al. Using figure ground perception to examine the unitary and heterogeneity models for psychopathology in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 59, 297-299 (2003).
- 13. Mujica-Parodi, L.R. & Sackeim, H.A. Cultural invariance and the diagnosis of delusions: information processing as a neurobiologically preferable criterion. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 13, 403-410 (2001).
- 14. Mujica-Parodi, L.R., Malaspina, D. & Sackeim, H.A. Logical processing, affect, and delusional thought in schizophrenia. Harv Rev Psychiatry 8, 73-83 (2000).
- 15. Mujica-Parodi (Kfia) LR. The Ontological Status of Mathematical Entities: the necessity for modern physics of a reëvaluation of mathematical systems, Review of Metaphysics 47, 1: 19-42 (1993).
Invited Talks
- University of Colorado Denver CO; Brain Imaging Center (May 2008)
- University of Colorado, Boulder CO; Department of Psychology (May 2008)
- Office of Naval Research; Program in Biophysics and Stress Physiology (November 2007)
- National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD; Laboratory of Physical and Structural Biology (November 2007)
- University of California, San Diego CA; Department of Psychiatry (January 2006)
- CUNY Graduate Center, New York NY; Department of Biomedical Engineering (September 2005)
- New York Medical College, Westchester NY; Department of Neuroscience (February 2005)
- University of Nevada, Reno NV; Department of Computer Science (August 2004)
- Naval Health Research Center, San Diego CA; Warfighter Performance (July 2004)
- New York University, New York NY; Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (February 2003)
Funding
Active Grants- 2002-2011 Office of Naval Research ($2,924,853) Title: Limbic Regulation and Stress Resilience (renewed twice) PI: LR Mujica-Parodi
- 2005-2008 U.S. Army Medical Research ($1,187,926) Title: Human Alarm Pheromones (renewed twice) PI: LR Mujica-Parodi
- 2005-2009 Office of Naval Research ($719,051) Genetic Polymorphisms, Stress, and Immune Response Co-PI: LR Mujica-Parodi,PI:PI Wayne Ensign
- 2007-2008 Defense University Research Instrumentation Award ($443,000) Title: Optical Tomography—Diagnostics for Stress Resilience PI: LR Mujica-Parodi
- 2005-2008 Office of Naval Research ($225,000)Title: Operational Stress in Special Forces During SERE Co-PI: LR Mujica-Parodi, PI: LT Marcus Taylor
- 2003-2005 National Institutes of Mental Health ($535,387) Title: Panic Attacks and the Endogenous Opioid System Investigator: LR Mujica-Parodi, PI: Donald Klein
- 2000-2004 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Award ($60,000) Title: Cognitive Processing and Stress in Schizophrenia PI: LR Mujica-Parodi
- 2001-2002 Psychiatric Institute Research Support Grant ($5,000) Title: Neuroimaging of Pre-attentive Sensory Gating PI: LR Mujica-Parodi
- 1999-2000 Frontier Fund for Psychiatric Research ($3000) Title: Cognitive Processing and Stress in Schizophrenia PI: LR Mujica-Parodi