College of Medicine
Nixon Lab
Led by Sara J Nixon · Psychiatry
What we study
The Nixon Lab studies how alcohol and drugs affect brain function and behavior using tests, brain scans, and interviews. They also research how age, sex, and ethnicity impact substance use.
What working here is like
- Clinical
- Surveys & interviews
- Human participants
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Acute effects of alcohol in older vs. younger drinkers
Analyzing sex differences and driving performance in alcohol studies.
FDA medication trial for alcohol treatment
Testing a drug's impact on cognition and abstinence in alcohol treatment.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- An Investigation of Socially Relevant Moderators of Childhood Substance Familiarity
2026 · Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Use
Examines how social factors like peer use and parental monitoring affect substance familiarity in kids.
- Effects of acute alcohol on pain-related activity of the anterior and posterior insular cortices
2026 · Alcohol
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- Characterization and validation of EHR computable phenotypes for Long COVID using patient-reported symptoms: insights from the nationwide RECOVER program
2026 · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
Uses patient reports and medical records to identify and validate signs of Long COVID.
- Alcohol Use and Trajectory Changes in Mnemonic Discrimination Among Older Adult Non‐Problem Drinkers
2026 · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research
Checks if non-problem alcohol use worsens memory problems in older adults using a similarity task.
- Social Mistreatment Effect on Alcohol Misuse Trajectories Is Moderated by Subcortical Network Activation During Error Processing
2026 · Addiction Biology
Tests how social mistreatment affects alcohol misuse over 3 years, focusing on brain activity during error processing.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Sara J Nixon hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.