This study examines the association between childhood adversity and adult substance use in Germany, finding stronger links with opioid and stimulant use and identifying distinct substance use profiles.

bioRxiv · Oct 18, 2026 · PreprintNeuroscience

Epigenomic embedding of childhood adversity links to disease risk and chronic immune changes

Darina Czamara, Dave Laurence Juntilla, Aayah Nounu, Annemarie Luise Weihs, Mira Erhart, Lisa Maier, Miriam Leskien, Johanna Tuhkanen, Aline Doreen Scherff, Natan Yusupov, Jonas Hagenberg, Anna Sophie Fröhlich, Vera N Karlbauer, Sandra Van der Auwera, Tanja Maria Brückl, , Elisabeth B. Binder

The paper identifies contmeQTLs linking childhood adversity to epigenetic changes in immune cells, which are associated with disease risk and inflammatory profiles.

Biological Psychiatry · Apr 25, 2026Peer-reviewedGenetic & Genomic Medicine

Cross-Tissue Comparison of Epigenetic Aging Clocks in Humans

Abner T. Apsley, Qiaofeng Ye, Avshalom Caspi, Christopher R. Chiaro, Laura C. Etzel, Waylon James Hastings, Christine C. Heim, John T. Kozlosky, Jennie G. Noll, Hannah M. C. Schreier, Chad E. Shenk, Karen Sugden, Idan Shalev

The paper compares epigenetic aging clocks across different tissue types, finding significant differences in age estimates between oral and blood-based tissues.

Aging Cell · Jan 9, 2025Peer-reviewedGenomics

Hippocampus and Striatum Showed Distinct Contributions to Longitudinal Changes in Value-Based Learning in Middle Childhood

Johannes Falck, Lei Zhang, Laurel Raffington, Johannes Julius Mohn, Jochen Triesch, Christine C. Heim, Yee Lee Shing

This study shows that hippocampal and striatal volumes in children relate to different aspects of value-based learning over two years, with hippocampus linked to delayed learning and striatum to both immediate and delayed learning.

eLife · Jul 2, 2024Peer-reviewedNeuroscience

Cross-tissue comparison of telomere length and quality metrics of DNA among individuals aged 8 to 70 years

Sarah E. Wolf, Waylon James Hastings, Qiaofeng Ye, Laura C. Etzel, Abner T. Apsley, Christopher R. Chiaro, Christine C. Heim, Thomas Heller, Jennie G. Noll, Hannah M. C. Schreier, Chad E. Shenk, Idan Shalev

The paper compares telomere length and DNA quality metrics across five tissues in individuals aged 8 to 70 years, finding age-related shortening in most tissues and tissue-specific variations in DNA quality.

PLoS ONE · Feb 22, 2024Peer-reviewedGenomics

Longitudinal developmental trajectories do not follow cross-sectional age associations in hippocampal subfield and memory development

Attila Keresztes, Laurel Raffington, Andrew R. Bender, Katharina Bögl, Christine C. Heim, Yee Lee Shing

The paper compares cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in hippocampal subfield volumes and memory in children, finding discrepancies between the two approaches and no strong link between volume changes and memory gains.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · Feb 19, 2022Peer-reviewedNeuroscience