Gene expression in the life course

Principle investigator: Prof. Dr. Michael Shanahan
Researcher: Justin Chumbley, Cecilia Potente, Wenjia Xu

This project draws on newly collected data from Add Health to study how social experiences over many decades of life are associated with gene expression patterns. With Kathleen Mullan Harris, Mike Shanahan has collected mRNA data from a random subsample of approximately 5,000 people, resulting in one the largest, population-based studies of expression to-date. Topics of special interest include birth weight and body mass, socioeconomic status, and stressors and how these factors are associated with disease-related “expression signatures” such as for diabetes Type II and cardiovascular disease.