Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transgenerational Trauma and Resilience

一代人经历的创伤影响下一代人的环境和生物的过程被称为“跨代传递”。这项博士研究项目将研究在经历了非常不利的社会和环境条件的人群中，母亲和祖母的创伤经历如何影响孙子孙女的表观遗传DNA甲基化情况。该项目将增进对人类生物学以及生物、文化和环境之间相互作用的了解。项目成果可为高危社区的公共卫生研究和干预提供信息。该项目还将支持STEM领域的学生培训，并将与当地教育和卫生合作伙伴以及国内和国际幼儿发展研究和实践社区分享这项研究。由此产生的数据将使其他研究人员能够验证或复制在生物嵌入和毒性应激这一日益增长的研究领域中的发现。近几十年来，研究人员已经开始研究可能有助于解释在经历过极端压力和逆境的人群中，儿童心理困扰和慢性病发生率较高的机制。本研究将使用调查问卷、激素和DNA甲基化数据来研究母亲和祖母的创伤经历--特别是那些发生在母亲或孩子在子宫中的创伤--如何影响儿童的基因表达和应激反应的调节。在这方面，社区参与的研究提供了一个独特的机会，可以研究创伤相关变化对压力反应的跨代表观遗传传递，并了解影响战后儿童发展的风险和韧性因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The process by which trauma experienced by one generation impacts the environment and biology of subsequent generations is referred to as "transgenerational transmission." This doctoral research project will examine how maternal and grandmaternal experiences of trauma impact the epigenetic DNA methylation profile of grandchildren, within a population that has experienced highly adverse social and environmental conditions. The project will advance knowledge about human biology and interactions between biology, culture and environment. Project outcomes may inform public health research and interventions for at-risk communities. The project will also support student training in a STEM field, and the research will be shared with local partners in education and health, as well as research and practice communities in early childhood development nationally and internationally. Resulting data will allow other researchers to validate or replicate findings in the growing research area of biological embedding and toxic stress. In recent decades, researchers have begun to investigate mechanisms that may help to explain the greater rates of psychological distress and chronic disease seen in children within populations that have experienced extreme stress and adversity. The present research will use questionnaire, hormone, and DNA methylation data to examine how maternal and grandmaternal experiences of trauma - especially those that occurred while the mother or child was in utero - impact child genetic expression and regulation of the stress response. Community-engaged research in this context provides a unique opportunity to study the transgenerational epigenetic transmission of trauma-related changes to the stress response and to learn about the risk and resilience factors that shape child development in the wake of war.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.