Her research is focused on developing a bio-behavioral understanding of substance use behaviors in adult and adolescent substance users, with the goal of developing optimal prevention and cessation interventions. In the area of adolescent tobacco use, her research focuses on understanding the appeal, abuse potential and patterns of use of tobacco products, developing and testing the use of novel behavioral and pharmacological cessation and prevention interventions, and understanding behavioral and neural predictors of use and cessation behaviors. She has contributed to the Surgeon General’s reports on youth tobacco use behaviors, served as a member of the FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee and currently serves on the CDC's Interagency Commission on Smoking and Health. Dr. Krishnan-Sarin is the Co-PI on the Yale Tobacco Centers Of Regulatory Science, funded by the NIH and FDA, which is using a multidisciplinary approach to understand the role of flavors and other constituents of tobacco products in tobacco and nicotine addiction. She also leads the ENACT initiative funded by the American Heart Association which is focused on developing interventions for e-cigarette use behaviors among youth. In a separate and distinct line of research Dr. Krishnan-Sarin also develops and tests novel pharmacological interventions for alcohol use disorders in adults and examines neurochemical predictors of alcohol use and treatment response.