A new paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, featuring as lead author Social Exposome Cluster Affiliate Member Dr. Nadine Provençal , Assistant Professor in the SFU Faculty of Health Sciences and an investigator at the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute in the Healthy Starts Theme. The paper, entitled "Glucocorticoid exposure during hippocampal neurogenesis primes future stress response by inducing changes in DNA methylation", examines the impact of maternal stress on the developing fetal brain by looking at a specific epigenetic mark, DNA methylation. Their research demonstrated a strong correlation between these epigenetic marks and the vulnerability of individuals to stress later in life. Click here to learn more about the impact of Dr. Provençal's research.