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Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, discusses the findings from a recent lab paper demonstrating the importance of sensitivity to reward as a protective factor for adolescents who have experienced maltreatment

February 27, 2017

Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, discusses the findings from a recent lab paper demonstrating the importance of sensitivity to reward as a protective factor for adolescents who have experienced maltreatment.  The paper was led by Meg Dennison, a post-doctoral fellow in the lab.  The findings suggest that adolescents who have high sensitivity to environmental rewards - at both behavioral and neural levels - are less likely to develop depression after experiencing maltreatment than adolescents who are less sensitive to reward.  These findings highlight novel avenues for...

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Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, edits a special issue on Mechanisms Linking Early-Life Adversity with Physical Health

November 8, 2016

Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, was the Guest Editor of a special issue of Psychosomatic Medicine on Mechanisms Linking Early-Life Adversity with Physical Health along with Nicole Bush and Richard Lane. In the last 2 decades, a veritable explosion of research into the early-life determinants of physical health has demonstrated that social and environmental factors in early life play a critical role in predicting morbidity and mortality across the life course. In particular, exposure to adverse experiences in childhood—including poverty, abuse, neglect, ...

Read more about Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, edits a special issue on Mechanisms Linking Early-Life Adversity with Physical Health
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Maya Rosen, post-doc in the Stress and Development Lab, receives a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Child Health and Development

November 7, 2016
Maya Rosen, a postdoc in the Stress and Development Lab, has been awarded a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her project is entitled “Long-Term Memory-Guided Attention: Development, Environmental Factors, and Neural Underpinnings.”Intact coordination between long-term memory and attention is essential for normal cognitive functioning. Development of this coordination in children is understudied and almost nothing known about the environmental factors that contribute to its development. Maya’s proposed studies will investigate... Read more about Maya Rosen, post-doc in the Stress and Development Lab, receives a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Child Health and Development
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Victoria Chambers, honor student in the Stress and Development Lab, is honored for her research and clinical work with children who have experienced trauma

March 2, 2016
Victoria Chambers, honors student in the Stress and Development Lab, is honored for her research and clinical work with children who have experienced trauma.  Read the story here: "Taking on Childhood Trauma".  Read more about Victoria Chambers, honor student in the Stress and Development Lab, is honored for her research and clinical work with children who have experienced trauma
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Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, wins the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association

February 22, 2016
Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, wins the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA Distinguished Scientific Awards for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology honor early career scientists for contributions in the first nine years post-PhD. These awards are given across 10 areas of psychology. Dr. McLaughlin won the award in the area of Psychopathology. Thank you to the APA for this incredible honor!
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Stress and Development Lab research highlights pervasive exposure to trauma among US children and adolescents

December 2, 2015
Stress and Development Lab research has shown that more than 60% of children and adolescents in the United States will experience a traumatic event, such as being the victim of violence or a life-threatening accident or injury, by the time they reach adulthood.  This work identifies risk factors for trauma exposure as well as for the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among youths who have experienced trauma.  The original paper can be found on the publications page (provide link to pdf to the McLaughlin et al, 2013 paper on trauma exposure and PTSD in a national sample... Read more about Stress and Development Lab research highlights pervasive exposure to trauma among US children and adolescents
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Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, receives the Rising Star Award from the IMHRO One Mind Institute

September 2, 2015

The IMHRO One Mind Institute Rising Star Awards aim to identify and fund critical and cutting-edge research on the neural underpinnings of mental disorders. Dr. Katie A. McLaughlin will be examining Neural Mechanisms of Stress Vulnerability in Youth Depression and Anxiety Disorders with the award.  The Stress and Development Lab is thrilled to receive this support from the IMHRO One Mind Institute.

You can read more about the research project...

Read more about Katie A. McLaughlin, Lab Director, receives the Rising Star Award from the IMHRO One Mind Institute
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Stress and Development Lab research uncovers how child maltreatment influences brain responses to emotional information

August 25, 2015

A study published this week by the Stress and Development Lab examined brain responses to emotional information in children exposed to maltreatment.  Maltreated children exhibited greater activation than children who had never experienced violence in the amygdala and other brain regions when looking at negative images, suggesting that negative emotional cues are more salient to children who have been maltreated.  However, maltreated children were just as able to modulate amygdala responses to negative cues as children who had never experienced violence after being taught...

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Charlotte Heleniak, 5th year graduate student in the Stress and Development Lab, receives a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health

August 25, 2015
Charlotte Heleniak, 5th year graduate student in the Stress and Development Lab, has been awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship. These awards enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. The NRSA will support Charlotte as she conducts her dissertation research study, “Child Maltreatment and... Read more about Charlotte Heleniak, 5th year graduate student in the Stress and Development Lab, receives a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health
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Research from the Stress & Development Lab identifies an early sensitive period for stress response system development

April 21, 2015

New research from the Stress and Development Lab suggests that the early social environment has a lasting impact on the development of stress response systems in children and that early intervention can mitigate the effects of early environments but only during the first two years of life.  The findings were published this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can read more about these findings...

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