December 4th Colloquium Speaker

Amanda Lea

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Services, Vanderbilt University

"The Evolution and Mechanistic Basis of Early Life Effects on Later Life Traits"

Thursday, December 4th

2:15 pm

Hinckley Inst. of Politics (GC 2018)

Click here to RSVP for Zoom link

Abstract: Early life environments can have profound and long-lasting effects on health, reproduction, and survival in humans and other primates, yet the evolutionary and mechanistic explanations for these relationships remain poorly understood. At the molecular level, early life effects on later life traits are thought to be mediated by stable changes to gene regulation. However, because most research has focused on human cohorts living in relatively stable, high-income settings, early and later life environments are often highly correlated, making their effects difficult to disentangle; moreover, molecular analyses are typically restricted to peripheral blood, limiting insight into system-wide impacts. To address these gaps, I will discuss long-term work focused on 1) the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, who are experiencing rapid, within-generation lifestyle shifts, such that early and later life experiences are often decoupled and 2) the rhesus macaques of Cayo Santiago, where paired life history and multi-tissue samples are available. I will show how within-lifetime environmental variation is critical for distinguishing early versus current environmental effects on health and gene regulation in the Orang Asli and for testing evolutionary hypotheses. I will then discuss how non-human primates can be an important model for understanding early life adversity effects on mortality, life history traits, and gene regulation across the body. Together, this work aims to contribute to our understanding of both how and why primates are sensitive to their early life experiences.