Exposure to stress during critical periods in development can have severe long-term
consequences, increasing overall risk on psychopathology. One of the key stress response …

Prenatal adverse environments, such as maternal stress, toxicological exposures, and viral
infections, can disrupt normal brain development and contribute to neurodevelopmental …

The increasing prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, especially autism spectrum
disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), calls for more research …

Prenatal stress mediated through the mother can lead to long-term adaptations in stress-
related phenotypes in offspring. This study tested the long-lasting effect of prenatal exposure …

Negative experiences with a caregiver during infancy can result in long-term changes in
brain function and behavior, but underlying mechanisms are not well understood. It is our …

DNA methylation (addition of methyl groups to cytosines) and changes in telomere length
(TTAGGG repeats on the ends of chromosomes) are two molecular modifications that result …

Juvenile social play behavior is one of the earliest sexually differentiated behaviors to
emerge. In rats, as with most other species that play, males engage in more rough-and …

Nature and nurture work together to drive development, behavior, and health. Behavioral
epigenetics research has uncovered underlying mechanisms for how this happens …

Prenatal stress mediated through the mother can program the long-term phenotype of the
offspring. The capacity for adaptation to adversity in early life depends in part on the life …

Maternal obesity has important health consequences for the mother and her offspring.
Experiments presented in this dissertation explored the role of maternal overnutrition with a …