22.05.2019Can stress change our genome?

Dr. Vanessa Lux, AE Genetic Psychology, Faculty for Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Everybody has experienced that stress gets under their skin. The new research field of epigenetics has now shown that stress can also influence the way genes are transcribed in our cells. At least if this stress is experienced in certain sensitive phases of our development. The basis is molecular changes in the chromatin, the material that makes up the genetic material. But how stable are those epigenetic changes? Are they possibly the basis for mental illness? And can they even be inherited? Vanessa Lux explains what epigenetics is and how and when stress alters the genome. She also gives an outlook on what we can expect in the future from epigenetic stress research.