Sponsored Research
Phase 2
Project Title: "Study of the Regulation of Emotions in Youth"
​Adolescent mental health problems increasingly constitute a major public health threat. Emotion regulation skills are a protective factor for adolescent mental health and can be developed through parent-adolescent interactions. This project seeks to better understand parental influences on the neurobiology underlying adolescent emotion regulation. Knowledge gained from this project and related future directions will enhance the lives of adolescents by improving our understanding of how parenting can be used to affect brain development to promote positive socioemotional outcomes.
Project Title: "Immune Genomics and COVID-19 Response in Adults with Adverse Childhood Experiences"
Dr. Bart Ford’s project will examine how ACEs may alter gene in two important classes of immune cells (monocytes and dendritic cells) in ways that affect COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.
Project Title: "The Impact of Maternal Adversity and Attachment Security on Infant Stress Reactivity: Prenatal Epigenetic Pathways"
​​Maternal ACEs and maternal attachment security are two critical but underexplored predictors of the transmission of adversity and adaptation across the lifespan and generations. Data from this study will clarify the perinatal, intergenerational epigenetic pathways from maternal risk and protective factors to infant stress reactivity. Results will help clarify mother-infant stress profiles and protections that may be amenable to intervention to promote healthy stress regulation across generations.