BMC Seminar - Sex-specific response to early life adversity

BMC Seminar 19 February at 12:30-13:10 in Árnagarður, room 306

Speaker: Dr. Rosemary Erin Haskell, post-doc at the Department of Psychology, Reykjvik University

Title: A data-driven approach to understanding sex-specific response to early life adversity: a project plan

Abstract: Exposure to Early Life Adversity (ELA, e.g. neglect, deprivation, abuse), has a myriad of effects on an individual’s mental, physical and reproductive health. There is wide ranging evidence that males and females experience and process ELA differently, yet few studies put sex differences at the core of their analysis. Quantifying ELA is challenging due to the complexities of accommodating a broad range of variables, and the timing, duration and severity of exposure. This is further confounded in adolescent-focused studies by the onset of puberty, which is affected by ELA, but is also linked to depressive symptoms. Integrating genetic (DNA) and epigenetic (adaptable modifications to the DNA) offers an insight into the mechanism whereby environmental exposure can be embedded in biological response but also adds additional data complexity. In this BMC seminar I will present the aims of this newly initiated, Rannís funded project along with proposed methods. This project will leverage community-based longitudinal studies from the UK and Iceland that offer life-long measurements of depression and adversity, along with repeated epigenetic sampling (UK only) and genotype data. Through using advanced variable and person-centred analyses, as well as integrating genetic and epigenetic data, this study aims to tackle the multidimensional aspect of ELA and pubertal onset and analyse its effects on depressive symptoms in developing males and females.

Speaker bio: After moving to Iceland from the UK in 2023, Erin started an 18-month postdoctoral role with Þórhildur Halldórsdóttir at Reykjavík University in the Department of Psychology. Using adolescent self-report surveys, she investigated how adolescent mental health outcomes are influenced by the adolescent environment at different levels (e.g. national stresses, screen use, family support). She was fortunate to receive a Rannís postdoctoral grant during this time, which has recently started and of which she will share the details of in this BMC seminar. Prior to this, Erin’s academic background was diverse. Her most recent role was at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in Cambridge, UK. Here she worked in the outreach team at Ensembl (a genome browser), and later for ELIXIR (life science research infrastructure). This was following a BSc degree in Ecological Science from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD at the University of York with Thorunn Helgason and Sue Hartley. This project focused on how plant-colonising soil fungi (mycorrhizae) can help improve silicon uptake by plants and using novel metagenomic barcoding techniques to identify fungal colonisers in environmental samples. Despite a change in study area and environment, genomics and data analyses have always been at the core of her interests.