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Office Contact Info.
Phone: (631) 344-3604
Fax: (631) 344-2358
Mail address: Bldg. 490

Nelly Alia-Klein

Scientist


Telephone:  (631) 344-8104
e-mail:  nellyklein@bnl.gov
see also: Neuropsychoimaging web site

Research Interests

    Key words: social neuroscience, alcohol abuse and drug addiction, aggressive behavior, domestic abuse, molecular imaging, neurogenetics.

    I like to engage in multimodality, translational research focusing on the prediction of trait and state behavior across the same individuals. The primary focus is on the prediction of trait anger and aggressive behaviors particularly in the context of poor inhibitory control. Inhibitory control is a neuropsychological construct referring to an impaired ability to control the inhibition of harmful and/or inappropriate emotion, cognition or behavior. Emotional reactivity is another component that can compromise decision-making and behavior. My thinking is guided by the hypothesis that imbalance of emotional experience and inhibitory control is a current underlying virtually all of the diagnostic categories used in psychiatry.

    In the study of multiple mechanisms that underlie trait behavior, I place a special emphasis on the neurochemistry modulating these trait behaviors and on the reactivity interplay of prefrontal and subcortical brain regions during challenge. My tools probe brain function through application of MRI and PET technology. Behavioral data is obtained both through self-report and through performance in a battery of tests.

Current Projects

  • Searching for novel inhibitory stimuli for neuroimaging paradigms.
    What is in a word? fMRI response to “No” and to “Yes.” This study investigates for the first time brain activation in response to emphatically expressed commands to stop or to continue behavior. It has potential as an auditory linguistic stimulus for future fMRI studies that aim at experimenting with linguistic markers for “go” and “no-go” behavioral patterns.
  • Exploring neurogenetic mechanisms of aggressive behavior.
    This ongoing project will assess potential contributing factors to violent behavior in domestic abusers by evaluating their functioning from different levels of understanding. We will assess the effects of specific genetic variation, brain functioning and personality traits in alcoholic and non-alcoholic domestic abusers as compared to carefully matched controls.
  • Documenting the effects of maltreatment stress on psychophysiology of inhibitory control in children and adolescents
    Here we aim to delineate factors that may contribute to poor inhibitory control in maltreated children and adolescents. The study will obtain multidimensional psychophysiological and psychosocial information along different time periods in the lives of these children and adolescents.
  • (also see Neuropsychoimaging web site)

Education & Concurrent Positions

  • B.A., Adelphi University, New York. Majors: Psychology (Summa Cum Laude), 1998
  • Intern, Adult Psychology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Hillside Hospital, New Hyde Park, NY, 2001-2002
  • Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Columbia University, NY, 2002
  • Post-doctorate, research associate, training fellowship on Brain Imaging and Alcohol Abuse from the NIH, SUNY Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 2002-2005
  • New York State Psychology License, 2003
  • Assistant Scientist, Medical Research, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 2005
  • Associate Scientist, Medical Research, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 2007
  • Department of Psychology, State University of NY at Stony Brook., 2007

Selected Publications

Alia-Klein N., Goldstein R.Z., Kriplani A., Logan J., Tomasi D., Williams B., Telang F., Shumay E., Biegon A., Craig I., Henn F., Wang G.J., Volkow N.D. and Fowler J.S.
Brain MAO A Activity Predicts Trait Aggression.
J Neuroscience, (2008) in press.

Alia-Klein N., Kriplani A., Logan J., Tomasi D., Williams B., Telang F., Goldstein R.Z., Craig I., Wang G.J. and Volkow N.D. and Fowler J.S.
The MAO A Genotype does not modulate resting brain metabolism in adults.
Psychiatry Res, Neuroimaging, (2008) in press.

Alia-Klein N., Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Zhang L., Fagin-Jones S., Telang F., Wang G.J., Fowler J.S. and Volkow N.D.
What is in a word? “No” versus “Yes” Differentially Engage the Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex.
Emotion, 3:649-659 (2007). PubMed

Alia-Klein N., O'Rourke T., Goldstein R.Z. and Malaspina D.
Insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications predict violence severity in a forensic sample.
Aggressive Behavior, 33:86-96 (2007). PubMed

Fowler J.S., Alia-Klein N., Kriplani A., Logan J., Williams B., Zhu W., Craig I.W., Telang F., Goldstein R. and Volkow N.D., Vaska P. and Wang G.-J.
Evidence that brain MAO A activity does not correspond to MAO A genotype in healthy male subjects.
Biological Psychiatry, 62(4):355-358 (2007). PubMed

Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Tomasi D., Zhang L., Cottone L.A., Maloney T., Telang F., Caparelli E.C., Chang L., Ernst T., Samaras D., Squires N.K., and Volkow N.D.
Is decreased prefrontal cortical sensitivity to monetary reward associated with impaired motivation and self-control in cocaine addiction.
American Journal of Psychiatry, 164:43-51 (2007). PubMed

Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Volkow N.D.
Drugs of Addiction: Neuroimaging in drug addiction. In L Squire, T Albright, F Bloom, F Gage & N Spitzer (Eds.), The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Oxford University Press. (2007).

Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A., Zhang L., Telang F., and Volkow N.D.
Subjective sensitivity to monetary gradients is associated with frontolimbic activation to reward in cocaine abusers.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 87:233-240 (2007). PubMed

Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Rajaram S., Cottone L.A., Zhang L., Maloney T., Telang F., Alia-Klein N., and Volkow N.D.
Role of the anterior cingulate and medial orbitofrontal cortex in processing drug cues in cocaine addiction.
Neuroscience, 144:1153-1159 (2007). PubMed

Tomasi D., Goldstein R.Z., Telang F., Maloney T., Alia-Klein N., Caparelli E.C. and Volkow N.D.
Thalamo-cortical dysfunction in cocaine abusers: implications in attention and perception.
Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 155(3):189-201 (2007). PubMed

Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A. and Volkow N.D.
Addiction and the Orbitofrontal Cortex.
In D Zald & S Rauch (Eds.), The Orbitofrontal Cortex. Oxford University Press.(2006).

Zhang L., Samaras D., Alia-Klein N., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.
Modeling Neuronal Interactivity using Dynamic Bayesian Networks. 12.
In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 18, Y. Weiss, B. Scholkopf, and J. Platt, Eds. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. (2006).

Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Leskovjan A.C., Fowler J.S., Wang G.-J., Gur R.C., Hitzemann R. and Volkow N.D.
Anger and depression in cocaine addiction: association with the orbitofrontal cortex.
Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 138:13-22 (2005). PubMed

Zhang L., Samaras D., Tomasi D., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A., Leskovjan L.C., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.
Exploiting Temporal Information in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Brain Data.
Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, pp.679-687 (2005).

Malaspina D., Brown A., Goetz D., Alia-Klein N., Harkavy Friedman J., Harlap S. and Fennig S.
Schizophrenia Risk and paternal age: a potential role de novo mutations in schizophrenia vulnerability genes.
CNS Spectrum, 7(1):26-32 (2002). PubMed

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Last Modified: April 28, 2008
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DOE, Office of ScienceOne of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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