Alaska Children's Trust is proud to sponsor and happy to invite you to this training on epigenetics and the multi-generational transmission of trauma. This is the second time we are hosting Dr. Courtney Griffin to present because her first training was so incredibly informative, clear, and visually-engaging. I highly recommend this training for anyone hoping to deepen your understanding of how it is that adversity early in life (or in the lives of your parents) can affect health outcomes later -- and what we can do about it.
TRAINING DESCRIPTION (by Dr. Courtney Griffin)
Title: “What is the science of epigenetics teaching us about multi-generational transmission of trauma?”
Epigenetics is the mechanism by which environmental influences regulate our genes. I will start the webinar by providing a simple explanation of how epigenetics works and will discuss important observations in animals and humans that early childhood stresses can negatively impact long-term health through epigenetics. I will also discuss preliminary evidence that epigenetic “memory” can be passed through multiple generations. Special emphasis will be placed on the susceptibility of the hormonal stress response system to epigenetic regulation. Finally, we will discuss encouraging evidence that epigenetic marks are reversible, which empowers us to make lifestyle decisions that could improve our own health and that of our children and grandchildren.
BIOGRAPHY: Courtney Griffin is an Associate Member in the Cardiovascular Biology Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biology at Harvard College in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California San Francisco in 2001. During her graduate training, she became interested in vascular development and its implications for embryonic growth as well as postnatal health and disease. She pursued postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was exposed to the field of epigenetics. In 2008 she launched her own lab at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City studying the impact of epigenetics on vascular development. Her lab’s research is generating novel insights into genes that regulate blood and lymphatic vessel identity and integrity. Courtney and her husband Tim—who is also a scientist at OMRF—are proud parents to 11-year-old identical twin girls who provide constant reminders of the profound influence that epigenetics impart on human development and behavior.
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