early life

The Picower Institute Spring 2023 Symposium "Environmental and Social Determinants of Child Mental Health

Studies show that abuse, neglect or trauma during childhood can lead to lifelong struggles including with mental health. Fortunately research also indicates that solutions and interventions at various stages of life can be developed to help. But even among people who remain resilient or do not experience acute stresses, a lack of opportunity early in life due to poverty or systemic racism can still constrain their ability to realize their full potential. In what ways are health and other outcomes affected by early life difficulty? What can individuals and institutions do to enhance opportunity?" "This daylong event will feature talks by neuroscientists, policy experts, physicians, educators and activists as they discuss how our experiences and biology work together to affect how our minds develop and what can be accomplished in helping people overcome early disadvantages.

Neural epigenetic mechanisms of early life exercise interventions

Early life adversity, inflammation, and depression-onset: Results from the Teen Resilience Project

My research focuses broadly on the lifelong health disparities associated with experiences of adversity early in life. In this talk I will present the results of our recently completed Teen Resilience Project, a prospective and longitudinal study of first onset depression during adolescence. First, I will present the results on whether and how inflammatory processes may be shaped by early life adversity. Second, I will present data on the role of stress-induced inflammation in reward-related psychological processes. Finally, I will discuss the biobehavioral predictors of first-onset depression in this sample.

Western diet consumption and memory impairment: what, when, and how?

Habitual consumption of a “Western diet”, containing higher than recommended levels of simple sugars and saturated fatty acids, is associated with cognitive impairments in humans and in various experimental animal models. Emerging findings reveal that the specific mnemonic processes that are disrupted by Western diet consumption are those that rely on the hippocampus, a brain region classically linked with memory control and more recently with the higher-order control of food intake. Our laboratory has established rat models in which excessive consumption of different components of a Western diet during the juvenile and adolescent periods of development yields long-term impairments in hippocampal-dependent memory function without concomitant increases in total caloric intake, body weight, or adiposity. Our ongoing work is investigating alterations in the gut microbiome as a potential underlying neurobiological mechanism linking early life unhealthy dietary factors to adverse neurocognitive outcomes.

Brain and behavioural impacts of early life adversity

Abuse, neglect, and other forms of uncontrollable stress during childhood and early adolescence can lead to adverse outcomes later in life, including especially perturbations in the regulation of mood and emotional states, and specifically anxiety disorders and depression. However, stress experiences vary from one individual to the next, meaning that causal relationships and mechanistic accounts are often difficult to establish in humans. This interdisciplinary talk considers the value of research in experimental animals where stressor experiences can be tightly controlled and detailed investigations of molecular, cellular, and circuit-level mechanisms can be carried out. The talk will focus on the widely used repeated maternal separation procedure in rats where rat offspring are repeatedly separated from maternal care during early postnatal life. This early life stress has remarkably persistent effects on behaviour with a general recognition that maternally-deprived animals are susceptible to depressive-like phenotypes. The validity of this conclusion will be critically appraised with convergent insights from a recent longitudinal study in maternally separated rats involving translational brain imaging, transcriptomics, and behavioural assessment.

The development of hunger

All mammals transition from breastfeeding to independent feeding during the lactation period. In humans and other mammals, this critical transition is important for later in life metabolic control and, consequently, for the development of many chronic conditions. Here, Dr. Dietrich will discuss the work of his lab studying the function of hypothalamic neurons involved in homeostatic control during the transition from breastfeeding to independent feeding. His work illuminates novel properties of hypothalamic neurons in early life, suggesting mechanisms by which early life events shape homeostatic regulation throughout the individual’s lifespan.

The Picower Institute Spring 2021 Symposium: Early Life Stress & Mental Health

Though studies show that abuse, neglect or trauma during childhood can lead to lifelong lifelong struggles including in mental health, research also indicates that solutions and interventions at various stages of life can be developed to help. And while many people manage to remain resilient, a lack of opportunity early in life, including because of poverty and systemic racism, can constrain their ability to realize their full potential. In what ways are health and other outcomes affected? How can systems instead restore opportunity? "The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory's biennial spring symposium, 'Early Life Stress & Mental Health,' will examine these issues. The daylong event will feature talks by neuroscientists, policy experts, physicians, educators and activists as they discuss how our experiences and biology work together to affect how our minds develop and what can be accomplished in helping people overcome early disadvantages.

Gut Feelings: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis Across the Lifespan

The microbiota-gut-brain axis is emerging as a research area of increasing interest for those investigating the biological and physiological basis of brain development and behaviour during early life, adolescence & ageing. The routes of communication between the gut and brain include the vagus nerve, the immune system, tryptophan metabolism, via the enteric nervous system or by way of microbial metabolites such as short chain fatty acids. Studies in animal models have shown that the development of an appropriate stress response is dependent on the microbiota. Developmentally, a variety of factors can impact the microbiota in early life including mode of birth delivery, antibiotic exposure, mode of nutritional provision, infection, stress as well as host genetics. Recently, the gut microbiota has been implicated in regulating the stress response, and social behaviour. Moreover, fundamental brain processes from adult hippocampal neurogenesis to myelination to microglia activation have been shown to be regulated by the microbiome. Further studies will focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying such brain effects and how they can be exploited by microbiota-targeted interventions including ‘psychobiotics’ and diet

Playing fast and loose with glutamate builds healthy circuits in the developing cortex

The construction of cortical circuits requires the precise formation of connections between excitatory and inhibitory neurons during early development. Multiple factors, including neurotransmitters, neuronal activity, and neuronal-glial interactions, shape how these critical circuits form. Disruptions of these early processes can disrupt circuit formation, leading to epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, I will describe our work into understanding how prolonged post-natal astrocyte development in the cortex creates a permissive window for glutamate signaling that provides tonic activation of developing interneurons through Grin2D NMDA receptors. Experimental disruption of this pathway results in hyperexcitable cortical circuits and human mutations in the Grin2D gene, as well as other related molecules that regulate early life glutamate signaling, are associated with devastating epileptic encephalopathies. We will explore fundamental mechanisms linking early life glutamate signaling and later circuit hyperexcitability, with an emphasis on potential therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing epilepsy and other neurological dysfunction.

Nature, nurture and synaptic adhesion in between

Exposure to proper environment during early development is essential for brain maturation. Impaired sensory input or abnormal experiences can have long-term negative consequences on brain health. We seek to define the precise synaptic aberrations caused by abnormal visual experiences early in life, and how these can be remedied through viral, genetic and environmental approaches. Resulting knowledge will contribute to the development of new approaches to mitigate nervous system damage caused by abnormal early life experience.

Adult Neurogenesis, Enriched Environments, and the Neurobiology of Early Life-style Dependent Resilience

ROLE OF THE LOCUS COERULEUS NORADRENERGIC SYSTEM IN SUSCEPTIBILITY AND RESILIENCE FOLLOWING EARLY LIFE STRESS IN MALE AND FEMALE MICE

FENS Forum 2026

EFFECTS OF EARLY LIFE STRESS AND ALCOHOL EXPOSURE ON COGNITIVE, EMOTIONAL AND ADULT HIPPOCAMPAL NEUROGENESIS ALTERATIONS IN MALE AND FEMALE MICE

FENS Forum 2026

THE IMPACT OF EARLY LIFE STRESS ON SCHIZOPHRENIA-LIKE COGNITIVE DEFICITS IN MICE HETEROZYGOUS FOR A MUTATION IN GLUTAMATE DEHYDROGENASE: A GENE X ENVIRONMENT MODEL

FENS Forum 2026

SEX-DEPENDENT EFFECTS OF EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY AND NEUROPATHIC PAIN ON ANXIETY-RELATED BEHAVIOR IN MICE

FENS Forum 2026

IMPACT OF ADVERSE EXPERIENCES IN EARLY LIFE ON THALAMIC NEURAL CIRCUITS

FENS Forum 2026

EFFECTS OF EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY ON BEHAVIOR AND BRAIN CIRCUITRY: FOCUS ON THE THALAMIC RETICULAR NUCLEUS

FENS Forum 2026

EARLY LIFE STRESS FACILITATION OF FEAR MEMORY ASSOCIATED WITH CELLULAR ENGRAM DYNAMICS IN THE DORSAL DENTATE GYRUS

FENS Forum 2026

CYTOKINE CORRELATES OF SEX SPECIFIC AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR FOLLOWING EARLY LIFE SOCIAL ISOLATION

FENS Forum 2026

EARLY LIFE STRESS ALTERS AMYGDALA DEVELOPMENT IN A SEX-SPECIFIC MANNER

FENS Forum 2026

MALE SPECIFIC ABERRANT SPREAD OF NEURONAL AVALANCHES IN THE PREFRONTAL-AMYGDALA CIRCUIT FOLLOWING EARLY LIFE STRESS

FENS Forum 2026

SEX- AND AGE-SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE AND EARLY LIFE ADVERSITY ON DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN SPRAGUE DAWLEY RATS

FENS Forum 2026

EARLY LIFE SWIMMING AS A PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION IN A RODENT MODEL OF CEREBRAL PALSY

FENS Forum 2026

EFFECTS OF EARLY LIFE CANNABIS EXPOSURE ON SOCIAL PLAY BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITIVE CONTROL

FENS Forum 2026

FROM EARLY LIFE STRESS TO ADULT OUTCOMES: A JUVENILE SOCIAL DEFEAT MODEL IN MICE

FENS Forum 2026

MODE OF DELIVERY MODULATES THE INTEGRITY OF THE MURINE CHOROID PLEXUS IN EARLY LIFE

FENS Forum 2026

Elevating anandamide levels restore depression-like phenotype and alterations in micro-RNAs in rats exposed to early life stress

FKBP51 in glutamatergic forebrain neurons mediates beneficial effects of moderate early life adversity on hippocampal structure and function

Investigation of NMDA receptor function in a rodent model of early life stress

Priming the Brain for Chronic Pain: The Impact of Early Life Factors on Pain in Adolescence

The role of early life adversity in a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease pathology

Stressing but Relaxin’ the brain: how early life stress affects RLN-3 circuitry development and affective behavior

Transient developmental increase in cortical projections to amygdala GABAergic neurons contribute to circuit dysfunction following early life stress

Deciphering the role of neuronal interleukin-1 receptor in early life stress-induced social behavior deficits

FENS Forum 2024

Depression related to early life adversity: What preclinical models can tell us?

FENS Forum 2024

Early life adversity and the impact of glucocorticoids on NG2-glia: A potential mechanism for stress-related psychiatric disorders

FENS Forum 2024

Early life stress and adversities in adulthood: The effects of cumulative stress on memory

FENS Forum 2024

Early life stress & the developmental dynamics of hypothalamic neurogenesis

FENS Forum 2024

Early life stress and living in a complex environment: Effects on social hierarchy and stress coping in mice

FENS Forum 2024

Hippocampal neurogenesis changes in a sex and region-specific manner in adult mice subjected to maternal separation as an early life stress

FENS Forum 2024

Hypothalamic gene expression following early life and acute stress exposure in adulthood: Focus on sex differences

FENS Forum 2024

Impact of early life stress on adult behavior: Insights from mouse model

FENS Forum 2024

Impact of early life stress on the microcircuits of ventral hippocampus and potential targets for phenotype rescue

FENS Forum 2024

Long-term consequences of early life stress on noradrenergic neurons activation in male and female mice

FENS Forum 2024

Metformin administration mitigates early life stress-induced disruptions in hippocampal neurogenesis

FENS Forum 2024

Oxytocin signaling regulates maternally-directed behavior during early life

FENS Forum 2024

The role of α5-nicotinic receptors on the effects of early life stress in mouse behaviour

FENS Forum 2024

Sex-specific behavioral consequences of early life seizures induced by flurothyl

FENS Forum 2024

Sex-specific and epigenetically mediated changes of CB1R expression in the medial prefrontal cortex in response to early life stress

FENS Forum 2024

Sympathetic neural-immune interactions involved in early life stress-induced gastrointestinal disorder

FENS Forum 2024

Effects of early life stress on mouse sleep architecture and spindle activity

FENS Forum 2024