About Our Lab
The Psychophysiology, Emotionality, and Treatment (PET) Lab, under the direction of Dr. Megan Renna, conducts research on the biological implications of psychological distress. Using a multi-methods approach, we study how things like repetitive negative thinking, emotion dysregulation, and anxiety and depressive disorders influence biology to enhance chronic illness risk.
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Methods we use |
Who we study |
The PET Lab conducts experimental research in the lab, survey based research, and ecological momentary assessments. We are also planning several treatment studies using the methods below.
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The PET Lab studies the relationship between biological factors and distress in adults. We strive to conduct research with populations that are representative of the community as a whole, including:
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News
- 2/24 - Major congratulations to 4th year student Ava Fergerson, who matched for her pre-doctoral internship at the Durham VA!
- 2/24 - Dr. Renna was awarded a $5000 grant through the USM Lucas Endowment to expand the PET Lab's investigation of cognitive and emotional factors underlying the link between anxiety and inflammation
- 1/24 - PET Lab 2nd year graduate student successfully proposed her thesis, which examines psychological mediators of the relationship between bereavement and inflammation. Way to go Kylee!
- 11/23 - Congrats to Dr. Renna, along with collaborators in the School of Kinesiology and Nutrition at USM on being awarded a $1.1 million grant from NIGMS to study metabolic syndrome risk in young adults living in the Deep South!
- 09/23 - Congratulations to 4th year grad student Ava Fergerson on being awarded the Graduate Competitive Travel Award from the University of Southern Mississippi! This award will help fund her travel to the ABCT conference in November 2023 in Seattle, WA. Congrats Ava!
- 05/23 - The PET Lab is thrilled to welcome 2 new doctoral students for the 2023-2024 academic year. Welcome to Faith Wilbourne and Sonal Johal! Check out our personnel section to learn more about them!
- 11/22 - Congrats to 1st year doc student Kylee Behringer on her abstract being accepted for the Southeastern Psychological Association Annual Conference! Kylee will be presenting a poster entitled, "Understanding the relationship between losing a loved one and inflammation: A cross-sectional examination" in April in New Orleans! Congratulations Kylee!
- 05/22 - Dr. Renna has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research to test the effectiveness of a single-session emotion regulation training to reduce cardiovascular disease risk markers among depressed adults in Mississippi. This one-year grant will help provide pilot data for larger-scale projects and help provide emotion regulation skills to community members in need throughout the Hattiesburg area!
- 05/22 - Dr. Renna was recently awarded a grant from the University of Southern Mississippi Proposal Development Grant program to collect pilot data assessing sleep disturbance as a mediator of the relationship between repetitive negative thinking and inflammation among depressed adults.
- 04/22 - The PET Lab is so excited to welcome Kylee Behringer as the lab's first PhD student! Kylee will be joining the lab in August 2022 as a member of the Clinical Psychology PhD program at USM. Check out our personnel section for more info!
- 12/3/21 - Dr. Renna's review paper presenting a novel theory of how emotion regulation influences the relationship between negative emotions and the immune system has just been published in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health. See the new paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666354621002003
- 11/22/21 - The PET Lab is thrilled to welcome its two new undergraduate research assistants, Bailey and Korah!
- 10/26/21 - Dr. Renna has had a new paper accepted to Psychoneuroendocrinology! This study looked at HRV reactivity and recovery following a social stressor in breast cancer survivors with histories of distress disorders. Check it out here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453021004492?dgcid=author