A report elucidates the widely recognized, but poorly understood, concept of gene-environment interaction, finding a molecular mechanism in the case of post-traumatic stress disorder: demethylation of a glucocorticoid response element in the stress response regulator FKBP5 that depends on both the risk allele and childhood trauma. [Review on epigenetics and childhood trauma by McGill's Moshe Szyf.]
Read more at Nature Neuroscience
The McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre will receive generous support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Génome Québec to continue its trailblazing research in the field of epigenetics. The support announced today by the funding partners will go toward examining how environmental factors can alter the expression of our DNA and have life-long effects on human health.
Rare genetic mutation linked to psychiatric illnesses, obesity
B Charlie Fidelman, GAZETTE Health Reporter October 8, 2012
MONTREAL — Grounding chronic illnesses and mental disorders in human DNA is like trying to tease out a giant riddle that’s complicated by the intricate relationship between biology and behaviour. Hundreds of genes have been associated with psychiatric conditions, some erroneously, and they were not confirmed.
From the lab of CIFAR Fellow Michael Meaney (McGill University): Scientists have provided evidence that socioeconomic status affects family function and the development and function of brain regions that are critical for attention, learning and memory. Meaney's lab looks into how parenting produces lasting effects on cognitive and emotional development. His lab examined development in rats and found parental influences on the chemical, or 'epigenetic', signals that control the activity in the brain of genes that influence the connections between brain cells as well as learning and memory.
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