B. Callaghan: Intergenera­tional Impacts of Adversity on Mind-Body Health: Pathways Through the Gut- Brain Axis

Abstract
Children’s early experiences with caregivers impact their mental and physical health across the lifespan. That such early caregiving experiences can become biologically and psychologically embedded within an individual, means that multiple generations may be affected by said events. My research program investigates the neurobiological mechanisms via which early caregiving experiences impact children’s mental and physical health, and how those experiences may be transmitted to impact future generations. In this talk, I will present data from several studies in both rodents and humans demonstrating how early life adversity gets ‘under the skin’ to influence children’s emotional health, as well as their physical health, paying particular attention to gastrointestinal symptoms, which are tightly connected to emotional wellbeing. I will then zoom in on one physical system – the gastrointestinal microbiome – to show how it is impacted by adversity in ways that can give rise to both emotional and physical health risks and can perpetuate the effects of adversity across generations.

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Meeting-ID: 614 2430 5928
Code: zSFkP2A