Identifying Strategies to Prevent Depression and Promote Brain Resilience Across the Lifespan
Who We Are
We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists working together to understand the causes of depression and ways to prevent first onsets of the disorder.
What We Do
Our research investigates the drivers of both mental illness and mental wellbeing across the life course, with a goal of translating our findings into preventive strategies to promote brain health.
Read Our Work
Our list of publications spans subject areas from psychology to public health to epigenetics, all united by the common theme of understanding and preventing psychopathology.
Uncovering Sensitive Periods in Development
Emerging evidence highlights that the impact of early exposures on mental health outcomes may be dependent on whether those exposures occur during “sensitive periods” in development. Sensitive periods are high-risk/high-reward stages when the brain is highly plastic and when experience, whether exposure to adversity on the one hand or health-promoting interventions on the other, can have lasting impacts on brain health. Our team is working to identify when these sensitive periods occur prenatally, as well as in infancy, childhood, and beyond.
Understanding How Stress is Biologically Embedded
Scientists know that people are more likely to develop depression after experiencing a stressor. But how exactly does exposure to stress cause biological changes to create this vulnerability? We are currently studying how early exposure to childhood adversity can leave behind biological memories in the form of epigenetic changes, known as DNA methylation (DNAm) marks, which shape risk for depression in childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood.
Identifying Genetic and Environmental Factors That Shape Risk for Depression
Exposure to stress is one of the biggest risk factors for depression. But not everyone who experiences stress, trauma, or childhood adversity goes on to develop mental health problems. Little is currently known about why some people are more susceptible than others to developing depression, particularly following a stressful life event. Thus, we are currently studying the role of genetic variation in shaping risk for depression overall and how both genes and life experiences work together to influence vulnerability to (and protection from) depression.
Exploring Baby Teeth as Novel Biomarkers of Mental Health Risk
Recent advances in biomarker science are starting to identify new objective tools, such as neuroimaging, genetic, and epigenetic markers, to identify people at greater risk for mental health challenges in the future. Yet many biomarkers are currently limited due to their invasive nature and costly implementation on a population scale. Our team has been exploring the use of baby teeth as a new biomarker that may provide additional insights about vulnerability to mental illness.
