Candace Lewis

The majority of psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders have a complex etiology, meaning they have both genetic and environmental risk factors. This simple understanding demands an integration of exposure and molecular biology research. Behavioral epigenetics is uncovering an experience-dependent epigenome framework underlying vulnerability to brain-based illness. Our research focuses on social stress exposures and how these experiences can shape dynamic regulation of gene systems underlying cognitive, emotional, and behavioral health through development. Our lab has used both animal and twin models to investigate the influence of early life experiences on DNA methylation of gene systems involved in addiction, cognition, stress, and immune function. Our current studies funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development are expanding on this research by investigating the relationships between early life stress, gut microbiome composition, and their potential influences on host epigenome and behavior in children. Our lab is also interested in the brain, behavioral, and potential epigenetic pathways of psychedelic-assisted therapy, an experience-based intervention for depression and PTSD. Lastly, we are currently working on a grant from NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) which investigates if the peripheral transcriptome sequenced from dried blood spots tracks with myelination and cognitive maturation through infancy. Brain health can now be conceptualized as a multifaceted interplay of both genetic and environmental influences; the epigenome may be a critical player in the functional consequences of these interactions. The overarching goals of this lab are to understand the modifiable epigenome in order to inform etiology, prevention, and treatment efforts to increase quality of life for those with psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders.