Thomas Verny will be speaking on the topic of Social Epigenetics and the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma
In the last decade, genetic research has established that the DNA blueprints passed down through genes are not set in stone at birth. “Genes are not destiny.” Environmental influences, including nutrition, stress and emotions, can modify the expression of those genes without changing the genes themselves. This we are learning from the new science of epigenetics. I think it is fair to say that epigenetics is the most revolutionary advance in the biological sciences since Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species published in 1859. Epigenetics is the study of the molecular mechanisms by which the environment controls gene activity.
Epigenetics is also discovering that life experiences not only change us but that these changes may be passed on to our children and grandchildren down through many generations. This process is called trans-generational inheritance, and has become a hotly debated area of research. It makes good sense from an evolutionary perspective that exposure of parents to significant environmental conditions such as hunger, warfare, anxiety and the like should ‘inform’ their offspring in order to prepare them to meet these conditions when they are born. Obviously, this information can only be conveyed from parents to their children by way of their germ cells (ova and sperm). As scientists are steadily accumulating data in epigenetics at all levels of human functioning, be it biological, behavioral or psychological we are poised on the threshold of exciting new discoveries that carry far-reaching consequences for the future of humankind.
One of the foremost scientists in this new field is Gene Robinson, Director of the Institute of Genomic Biology, University of Illinois. He and his team have been studying how early life experiences affect a variety of animals such as honeybees, stickleback fish and mice. Let me briefly tell you about his experiments on bees. In what Robinson called Kidnapping and Cross-fostering Study researchers removed about 250 of the youngest bees from two African hives and two European hives, and painted marks on the bees’ tiny backs so they could follow them. Then they placed each set of newborns into the hive of the other subspecies. To every one’s surprise, European honeybees raised among more aggressive African killer bees, not only became as belligerent as their new hive mates – they came to genetically resemble them. And vice versa. The move between hives made the bees act differently. More importantly, it also made many of their genes function differently. This and similar experiments have shown that our social lives, our interactions with others and ourselves can change our gene expression with a rapidity, breadth, and depth previously unknown.
Please join us for what is sure to be a fascinating discussion!