Epigenetic modification of the stress response
Stress plays a pivotal role in the etiology of psychiatric disorders…but how? Epigenetic modification – the process by which genes are silenced or activated through environmental or genetic factors – may play an important role. This project aims to investigate the relationship between the stress response and epigenetic modification, both in rodents and humans. The association of the stress response with DNA methylation levels will be examined across the genome in a sample of human participants stratified for the presence of a bipolar disorder. Using genetic mapping of the susceptibility to early life stress in mice, we will identify prime targets for epigenetic stress modification to be tested in mice and homologous genomic regions in human.