"Study finds trauma effects may linger in body chemistry of next generation"
New research on survivors of the Holocaust shows how catastrophic events can alter our body chemistry, and how these changes can transmit to the next generation. Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai's Traumatic Stress Studies Division, led the study. Her team interviewed and drew blood from 32 sets of survivors and their children, focusing on a gene called FKBP5. "We already know that this is a gene that contributes to risk for depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," says Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai's Traumatic Stress Studies Division. Yehuda noticed a pattern among the Holocaust survivors called an "epigenetic change" - not a change in the gene code itself, but rather a change in a chemical marker that turns genes on or off.
- Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Director, Traumatic Stress Studies Division, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Additional Coverage:
Geek Snack