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Adverse experiences and stress can have a lasting impact on many aspects of human biological systems and processes, including immune function, brain development, cardiovascular function, and more. Many epidemiological, psychological/psychiatric, and social sciences studies have explored these connections, but much of the biology underlying them is unknown.

In the Biology of Adversity Project at the Ó³»­´«Ã½, we are working to uncover biological pathways affected by many forms of adversity, stress, and trauma (e.g., physical and sexual abuse, war, food insecurity, and unstable family environments) and identifying measurable markers — what we call "molecular scars" —  that alter individuals' biological responses to stress, impact childhood development, and subsequently alter health outcomes. 

By discovering and characterizing the long-lasting damage to specific genes, cell types, and pathways, we aim to fuel the development of diagnostic tools that could help identify people exposed to stress-, trauma-, and adversity-exposed people and allow them to access care that will improve health outcomes.

Our projects

We initially launched with two flagship research projects:

• Molecular atlas of adversity. Using animal models of stress and adverse experience, we are developing organism-scale epigenomic maps spanning more than a dozen tissues, together with single-cell whole brain imaging for markers of activity.
• Mapping trauma epigenomes in human populations. We will collect blood samples from well-defined cohorts of human subjects and conduct single-cell epigenomic studies intended to nominate and validate DNA methylation-based stress and adversity

Our community

To achieve our goals, we follow a simple guiding principle: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." We are a multidisciplinary research community led by Jason Buenrostro that brings together scientists with expertise in epigenomics, neuroscience, cutaneous biology, and neurodevelopment. We work in partnership with the Ó³»­´«Ã½ Trauma Initiative led by Karestan Koenen, which conducts public health research on the effects of trauma. With time, we aim to engage researchers interested in cardiovascular disease, cancer, immunology, and a variety of other fields.