It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, June 22, 2026
Early life adversity leaves lasting molecular imprint across the body
New primate study reveals how life experiences can shape aging in multiple tissues
In this study, researchers developed highly precise tissue-specific clocks, capable of predicting age within about one year of an individual’s chronological age. They conducted their study of 237 macaques, who live in semi-natural conditions on Cayo Santiago (colloquially referred to as “Monkey Island”), a 38-acre island off Puerto Rico's east coast. The island is inhabited by over 1,500 free-ranging rhesus macaques and managed by the University of Puerto Rico and Caribbean Primate Research Center. By integrating multi-tissue DNA methylation collected in adulthood with detailed records of early life experiences, the team uncovered how adversity and aging interacted to shape biology at the molecular level.
The experiences we face early in life may leave their marks on our health in ways that echo across decades—and even across the entire body.
A new study, published today in the journal Science (DOI:10.1126/science.aea4922), examined a unique group of free-living, rhesus macaques who have been followed their entire lives to document their experiences. Pairing these histories with genomic data from 12 tissues collected in adulthood, the study provides some of the clearest molecular evidence yet that early life adversity leaves a lasting, system-wide impression at the epigenome, the biological layer on top of the human genome that regulates gene activity.
Led by researchers at Arizona State University and Vanderbilt University, along with collaborating institutions, the study examined telltale aging hallmarks of the epigenome—called DNA methylation patterns. DNA methylation is one of the most well-studied markers of aging and can be used to build “epigenetic clocks” that estimate both an organism’s chronological age (how long it has been alive) and biological age (how old it appears physiologically).
“Our goal was to understand how aging unfolds across the body, and how early experiences might influence that process,” said study co-senior author Noah Snyder-Mackler, a professor in Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences. “What we found is that early life adversity leaves a coordinated epigenetic signature that spans multiple tissues—but it doesn’t simply accelerate aging in a uniform way.”
In this study, researchers developed highly precise tissue-specific clocks, capable of predicting age within about one year of an individual’s chronological age. They conducted their study of 237 macaques, who live in semi-natural conditions on Cayo Santiago (colloquially referred to as “Monkey Island”), a 38-acre island off Puerto Rico's east coast. The island is inhabited by over 1,500 free-ranging rhesus macaques and managed by the University of Puerto Rico and Caribbean Primate Research Center. By integrating multi-tissue DNA methylation collected in adulthood with detailed records of early life experiences, the team uncovered how adversity and aging interacted to shape biology at the molecular level.
What they found was that despite this epigenetic precision, aging did not occur uniformly across the body. Instead, the researchers found that age-related changes in DNA methylation were highly tissue-dependent.
“At a molecular level, aging looks very different depending on which tissue you examine,” said Amanda Lea,assistant professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, co-senior author of the study. “Blood, which is most commonly measured in human studies, only captures part of the picture.” Some tissues, like the thymus and pituitary gland, showed particularly strong and distinct age-related patterns, while others exhibited more subtle changes.
Yet even amid this diversity, individuals showed a degree of internal consistency. Animals that appeared “biologically older” in one tissue tended to appear older in other tissues as well, suggesting that aging operates as a partially coordinated process across the body.
The study’s most novel insights came from examining early life adversity—defined through naturally occurring conditions such as maternal loss, low maternal social status, or growing up in a crowded social group. These experiences were not only associated with changes in DNA methylation, but in a strikingly coordinated way across tissues. “We found that each type of adversity tends to affect specific regions of the genome,” said Lea. “But once it targets those regions, the effects are often shared across multiple tissues.”
In total, the team identified thousands of genomic regions where DNA methylation was associated with early life adversity. These regions frequently overlapped with those affected by aging—but importantly, the direction of the effects was not consistent.
“In some cases, adversity-related changes looked like accelerated aging. In others, they went in the opposite direction,” explained co-lead author Rachel Petersen, a Vanderbilt postdoctoral researcher. “This tells us that early adversity doesn’t simply ‘speed up’ aging. Instead, it reshapes the epigenome in more complex ways.”
This finding challenges a common assumption that early adversity uniformly accelerates biological aging. Instead, the results suggest a more nuanced model, in which early experiences alter the trajectory of molecular aging, amplifying the effects of aging in some tissues, such as the pituitary, but not others. These findings further suggest that the well-documented effects of early adversity on health operate, at least in part, through mechanisms that are not directly linked to aging.
The study also highlights the importance of studying multiple tissues. Many previous studies have relied on blood samples, which are relatively easy to collect. However, the new findings show that this approach may miss critical aspects of how aging and environmental exposures affect the body.
“Different tissues have their own epigenetic landscapes and respond differently to both age and adversity,” said co-lead author Baptiste Sadoughi, an ASU postdoctoral researcher. “To fully understand health and disease, we need to take a whole-body perspective.”
The use of rhesus macaques, which share many biological and social similarities with humans, adds to the study’s relevance. Unlike laboratory animals, these macaques live in complex social environments, allowing researchers to capture naturally occurring variation in life experiences.
“This kind of dataset is incredibly rare,” said Lea. “It allows us to connect detailed life histories with molecular changes across the body in a way that simply isn’t possible in most human studies.”
Beyond its scientific contributions, the research has important implications for understanding the developmental origins of health and disease. By showing how early experiences shape the epigenome across tissues, it provides a potential mechanism linking childhood conditions to later-life outcomes.
“Early life is a critical window for biological development,” said Snyder-Mackler. “Our findings suggest that experiences during this period can leave lasting marks on the genome that influence health trajectories over the lifespan.”
At the same time, the complexity of the results offers a note of caution. Because all types of adversity do not have uniform effects, predicting long-term consequences will require a more detailed understanding of context, timing, and individual variation.
“This is not a simple story,” Lea said. “But that’s what makes it exciting. We’re beginning to see how life experiences are written into our biology—and why those signatures might vary within and between individuals.”
As researchers continue to explore the interplay between environment, epigenetics and aging, studies like this one are helping to redefine what it means to grow older—not just as a function of time, but as a dynamic process shaped by the unique experiences that can truly define our lives.
For a full list of authors and institutions, go to (DOI 10.1126/science.aea4922). The study was made possible by funding from the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute on Aging (grants R01AG060931, R01AG084706, R00AG075241, and R21AG078554), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH118203) and the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40OD012217); the National Science Foundation (SMA-2105307, BCS-2041654, and SBE-2313953); the Hevolution Foundation/American Federation for Aging Research; and The Leakey Foundation.
The study examined telltale aging hallmarks of the epigenome—called DNA methylation patterns. DNA methylation is one of the most well-studied markers of aging and can be used to build “epigenetic clocks” that estimate both an organism’s chronological age (how long it has been alive) and biological age (how old it appears physiologically).
Cayo Santiago (colloquially referred to as “Monkey Island”), is a 38-acre island off Puerto Rico's east coast. The island is inhabited by over 1,500 free-ranging rhesus macaques and managed by the University of Puerto Rico and Caribbean Primate Research Center.
Early childhood adversity is connected to poorer physical and mental health across a person’s lifespan, and the biological mechanisms that translate the lived effects of poverty and trauma into physical functions are starting to come to light.
A growing body of research has shown that psychosocial stress influences mitochondrial function, and mitochondria play a pivotal role in stress-related diseases and aging.
UCLA psychologists have now connected early childhood adversity to changes in how mitochondria produce energy, which may affect cellular function with adverse effects on mental and physical health.
Experiencing adversity early in life, such as abuse or neglect, is connected to poorer physical and mental health across a person’s lifespan. How the biological mechanisms that translate the lived effects of poverty and trauma into physical functions and mental health are starting to come to light, thanks to new research out of UCLA.
Psychologists at UCLA have discovered that mitochondria in cells have increased respiratory capacity after experiencing greater early-life adversity. This discovery, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, suggests that mitochondria might be better able to respond to cellular stress by producing more energy. However, this kind of heightened response can be maladaptive in the long-term.
“This study is the first to examine early life adversity and mitochondrial bioenergetics in a diverse sample of adult men and women, and the first to examine distinct dimensions of threat and deprivation in relation to mitochondrial function,” said UCLA doctoral student Shiloh Cleveland, the paper’s first author. “Elucidating how adversity in childhood and adolescence relates to mitochondrial function could inform targeted intervention efforts earlier in the lifespan to promote positive health outcomes before the onset of age-related diseases.”
With colleagues in the Sumner Stress Lab at UCLA, Cleveland recruited 143 volunteers who completed a questionnaire on early-life adversity and submitted a blood sample. The researchers subjected live cells from the blood samples to a “stress test” to measure their bioenergetic function and found that cumulative experiences of early-life adversity were associated with increased respiratory capacity. The mitochondria from volunteers who had experienced early life adversity had a greater capacity to produce energy while under cellular stress, suggesting that cells respond to stress by producing more energy. However, this kind of “hypermetabolism” can be harmful to cells in the long term.
When the researchers drilled down into the analysis to consider different kinds of adversity, they found unique patterns. Threat was associated with lower cellular energy production, while also being prepared to meet the demands of potential future cellular stressors. Deprivation was associated with increased inefficient energy production, which researchers said may indicate greater cellular dysfunction.
“Under chronic stress, mitochondria may adapt in ways that supply cells with the energy needed to respond quickly to adversity, which can be useful in the short-term when they actually need to respond to these challenging experiences,” said UCLA psychologist Jennifer Sumner, the paper’s senior author. “But, over time, if the mitochondria are always working as if they’re under stress even when they’re not, it might wear them out more quickly and lead to adverse downstream effects on the cell. In the long run, performance could decrease to less than optimal levels, which can affect health in harmful ways.”
The results showed that the effects of adversity are not solely cumulative. The type of adversity experienced may be uniquely related to mitochondrial function.
“This study’s findings suggest that taking a more nuanced approach to thinking about experiences of early adversity may help to shed light on distinct mechanisms of the biological embedding of stress,” said Sumner.
The authors plan future research to explore the mechanisms by which early adversity affects health across the lifespan to inform better intervention and prevention efforts.
The research was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
Journal
Biological Psychiatry
Excessive Instagram use could erode our sense of self, altering the perception of our bodies
A study coordinated by researchers at the Università Cattolica, Milan campus warns against a digital world in which all faces tend to resemble one another. The risk is that it will become more difficult to remember what makes us unique.
Instagram use could influence not only how we see our bodies, but also how our brain perceives as "ours" the bodies we inhabit. In short, it could erode our sense of self to the point of no longer recognizing ourselves in our own bodies, or feeling "at home" within them.
This is the suggestion of a scientific study published in the international journal Computers in Human Behavior and implemented by a team of researchers coordinated by Professor Giuseppe Riva, director of the Humane Technology Lab at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. The study, led by Dr. Maria Sansoni, raises the Digital Erosion of Bodily Identity Hypothesis: the idea is that years of exposure to selfies, filtered faces, and digital representations of the self can gradually blur the perceptive boundaries that allow us to recognize our faces as uniquely our own. In other words, if we live for years in a digital world where all faces tend to resemble each other, the risk is that it will become more difficult to remember what makes us unique.
BACKGROUND
The mental health of adolescents and young adults represents one of the major public health challenges today. According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in seven adolescents and one in eight adults worldwide suffer from a mental disorder. Among the factors of greatest concern are those related to the body and self-image. In a culture increasingly focused on we look, physical appearance plays a growing role in the construction of personal identity and relationships with others. It's therefore not surprising that body dissatisfaction is today associated with reduced psychological well-being and represents a significant risk factor for the development of eating disorders, depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem.
In recent years, scientific debate has focused primarily on the role of social media. Platforms like Instagram have transformed the body into a primary tool for communication and self-representation. In these digital environments, the face and physical appearance are constantly exposed, observed, compared, modified through filters, and evaluated through likes, comments, and visibility metrics. This constant comparison with idealized images and, often unrealistic, aesthetic standards can increase perceived pressure regarding one's appearance, contributing not only to greater body dissatisfaction but also to a more critical assessment of one's body.
But what if the problem was deeper? The risk is that social media influenced not only the way we evaluate our bodies, but also the way we construct the sense of who we are.
THE STUDY
Indeed, in this new study researchers explored a previously almost completely overlooked aspect: the relationship between Instagram use and the processes that allow the brain to recognize one's own face as belonging to oneself. The body is not simply an image. Every day, the brain continuously integrates information from within the body (such as heartbeat, limb position, and visceral sensations) with information from the external environment, as what we see and touch. From this integration arises a seemingly obvious yet fundamental sensation: the certainty that that body is our body and that we exist as individuals distinct from others.
Neuroscience shows that these processes represent one of the foundations of personal identity. When functioning properly, they contribute to emotional regulation, awareness of who we are, and the immediate sense that our body belongs to us. When these sensations are ‘cancelled’, it can become more difficult to feel fully "at home" in our own body, clearly recognize our internal states, and maintain a stable distinction between self and others. For this reason, alterations in these mechanisms are a vulnerability factor for various clinical conditions, including eating and dissociative disorders.
The team involved 95 young adults, both men and women, with an average age of 26 and a history of nearly eight years of Instagram use. Participants underwent virtual reality experiences known as body illusions. By synchronizing what a person sees and feels about their own body, these procedures can temporarily induce the sensation that another person's face or body belongs to them. Used for years in neuroscience, body illusions allow us to study the solidity of the boundaries that separate the self from others and allow us to recognize our bodies as "ours." The ease with which a person experiences these illusions therefore represents an indicator of how malleable and flexible an individual's bodily identity is.
The results of the study revealed an unexpected phenomenon for the first time. The researchers observed a sort of "dose effect": the longer the person's history of Instagram use (and therefore the more years they had been using the platform), the greater the likelihood that participants perceived the face of the stranger shown in virtual reality as their own. This finding is particularly interesting because it concerns the face, arguably the most personal and identifying element of the human body.
Professor Riva affirms: "it is through our faces that we recognize ourselves in the mirror, construct our individuality, and are recognized by others. In other words, the association does not emerge in any bodily representation, but precisely in the part of the body most closely linked to the sense of who we are."
According to the authors, these findings suggest that prolonged exposure to image-focused digital environments could influence some of the deeper processes through which the brain constructs a sense of identity, supporting what they defined as the “erosion of bodily identity hypothesis”. In other words, if for years we live in a digital world where all faces tend to resemble one another, the risk is that it becomes more difficult to remember what makes us unique
The study does not prove that Instagram causes mental health problems, nor that these changes necessarily have negative consequences. However, it opens a new perspective on the relationship between technology and identity.
Dr. Sansoni explains: "The participants involved in the study belong to the first generation to grow up with social media: they began using these platforms in late adolescence and have integrated them into their daily lives for almost a decade. If associations with processes fundamental to the construction of bodily identity are already emerging in these young adults, the question that arises concerns the new generations and new adolescents, who come into contact with these technologies at an increasingly early age and for increasingly longer periods of time."
Journal
Computers in Human Behavior
Article Title
Blurring the boundaries of the self: Instagram's impact on bodily identity and multisensory experience among young adults
New membrane technology could transform hydrocarbon processing by slashing energy use
A team of international researchers have developed a new class of ultrathin polymer membranes that can rapidly and selectively separate complex hydrocarbon mixtures, potentially transforming how crude oil is refined and refinery streams are processed, significantly reducing the energy required for one of the world’s most energy‑intensive industrial processes.
The study, Ultrathin polymer membranes with locked intrinsic microporosity for hydrocarbon fractionation, has created a new way to form the separating layers in polymer membranes for molecular separations. The breakthrough derives from the way that the crosslinking agent for the polymer film is added to the polymer during membrane fabrication. It results in a scalable membrane technology capable of separating complex organic mixtures into valuable fractions with unprecedented efficiency. The membranes combine extremely high molecular selectivity with fast liquid transport — a combination that has long eluded scientists and engineers working in this field.
Re‑thinking a century‑old process
Conventional crude oil refining relies on thermal distillation, a process that consumes vast amounts of energy and accounts for around one percent of global energy use. Although membrane technologies have long promised a far more energy efficient alternative, their industrial uptake has been limited by fundamental materials challenges.
“Membranes can, in principle, do the same job as distillation or evaporation, using far less energy,” explains lead researcher, Andrew Livingston, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Vice President Research and Innovation at Queen Mary University of London, and CEO of Exactmer. “The problem has been finding materials that are both fast and selective when exposed to real hydrocarbon mixtures.”
Locking pores at the nanoscale
The breakthrough reported in this study lies in a new way of manufacturing polymer membranes so that their nanoscale pores are “locked” in place during formation.
The researchers focused on polymers of intrinsic microporosity, materials known for their sponge‑like structure containing sub‑nanometre pores. While these pores are ideal for separating molecules by size and type, the polymers normally swell when exposed to hydrocarbons, causing the pores to expand and lose selectivity.
To overcome this, the team developed an in‑situ crosslinking approach that stabilises the polymer structure while the membrane is being formed. This process locks the pores in their optimal configuration, producing what the researchers call polymers of locked intrinsic microporosity (PLIMs).
“The key was stabilising the structure before the polymer had a chance to swell,” explains Dr Zhiwei Jiang, who led the research as Head of Membrane Research at Exactmer, and who is now Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “This preserves the tiny pores that make molecular separation possible, while still allowing hydrocarbons to flow through very quickly.”
To probe the molecular origins of locking, the UCL team, led by Dr Foglia, used quasi-elastic neutron scattering at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, the UK's national pulsed neutron facility and an unrivalled tool for studying polymer chain dynamics.
Exceptional performance in crude oil and refinery streams
When tested with synthetic crude oil, PLIM membranes showed up to ten‑fold higher permeance than existing state‑of‑the‑art membranes while maintaining high selectivity. The membranes were able to discriminate effectively between hydrocarbon molecules that differ only slightly in size.
In tests using real Arabian Extra Light crude oil, the membranes:
Removed 99.8% of hydrocarbons heavier than 15 carbon atoms
Reduced sulphur‑containing compounds by 93%, a critical step in protecting downstream catalysts and equipment
The membranes also performed particularly well with refinery streams such as virgin naphtha. In these tests, they efficiently separated light hydrocarbons (C4–C6), suitable for fuel upgrading, from heavier naphtha fractions used to produce plastics and chemicals — all at permeances comparable to commercial desalination membranes.
Designed for scale‑up
Crucially, the researchers demonstrated that the membranes can be manufactured at scale. Using roll‑to‑roll processing, they produced sheets over a metre wide and integrated them into standard spiral‑wound membrane modules commonly used in industry.
“These membranes aren’t just laboratory curiosities,” said Dr Adam Oxley, first author of the research paper and now Deputy Vice President Membranes at Exactmer. “They can be produced using established manufacturing techniques and fitted into existing industrial module designs. At Exactmer, we are building these new techniques into membranes used for high value separations in organic solvents.”
Long‑term testing showed stable performance over 30 days of continuous operation, indicating strong potential for real industrial deployment.
A more sustainable pathway for refining
While the global energy system is transitioning towards lower‑carbon alternatives, demand remains for fuels, chemicals, solvents, and materials derived from hydrocarbons. Improving the efficiency of existing separation processes is therefore essential in reducing emissions during the transition period.
By enabling membrane‑based separations that are both fast and selective, the PLIM technology could allow industries from oil refining to pharmaceuticals to:
Cut energy consumption dramatically
Reduce carbon emissions
Operate with smaller, more flexible processing units
Integrate selective desulphurisation earlier in the refining process
The researchers note that the same pore‑locking concept could be extended to other liquid separation challenges, including chemical manufacturing, solvent recovery, and emerging bio‑based feedstocks.
Looking ahead
The team is now exploring greener solvents for membrane manufacture and investigating how PLIM membranes could be deployed in targeted hybrid processes alongside existing refinery infrastructure and the manufacture of high value pharmaceuticals in organic solvents.
“This work shows that membrane‑based molecular separation in organic liquids is no longer just a theoretical possibility,” said Professor Livingston. “With the right materials design, it can be fast, selective, scalable — and ready for industry.”
The Team
This project was led by Exactmer where Drs Jiang and Oxley develop cutting edge new membrane technology, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London, the University of Edinburgh, KAUST, UCL, and international collaborators including SINOPEC, with support from UKRI, EPSRC, and KAUST. Prof Livingston comments that “it is great to see research at a high level being led by a UK based deep tech spinout – Exactmer – and we are grateful for the UKRI Future Fellowship programme which allows Fellows to be working in industry”.
Funders
Zhiwei Jiang and Adam Oxley at Exactmer were funded by a UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship grant (MR/W009382/1) awarded to Exactmer by UK Research and Innovation, with additional funding from SynHiSel.
SynHiSel is a £9M EPSRC-funded programme grant (EP/V047078/1) bringing together leading UK researchers from six UK institutions, the University of Bath, Imperial College London, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and Queen Mary University of London, and twelve industrial partners to create high-selectivity membranes for sustainable chemical separations.
Comments from the International Academic Community:
Dr Zachary P. Smith, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
As all chemists know, “like dissolves like.” So, how can you separate hydrocarbon liquids using a hydrocarbon polymer without the polymer itself dissolving while in use? Livingston and his team have developed an approach to “lock” their polymers in place, making them stable under aggressive conditions. More than that, they have shown that this approach works with some of the newest and most innovative emerging polymers in membrane science, helping to push the field into untapped areas of application.
Ryan P. Lively, Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology
One of the key technological barriers facing membrane deployment in crude oil refining [is/was] the very low productivity of the membrane units. The membranes from Professor Livingston’s research are more than 100 times more productive than the first generation membrane materials - the fact that this was achieved along with improved separation efficiency is a remarkable achievement.
The composition of the membrane selective layer is interesting. The polymer backbones used had been considered previously, and crosslinked polymers had been considered previously - but the special combination that the team discovered really hit a sweet spot in terms of membrane performance. Being able to go from a small postage stamp test to a full-size membrane module in such a short time indicates that the prospects for membrane-based oil refining are bright. Indeed, this article and others in the academic literature continue to indicate that there are real economic and environmental benefits for moving forward with membranes for oil refining at larger and larger scales.
Journal
Science
Article Title
Ultrathin polymer membranes with locked intrinsic microporosity for hydrocarbon fractionation
Article Publication Date
18-Jun-2026
Study finds nutrient in breast milk that shapes immune development in mice
Trans-vaccenic acid (TVA), the most abundant trans fatty acid found in human breast milk, helps boost immune system development and has long-lasting effects on immune system health in mice, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago.
The study, published this week in Science, showed that nursing female mice fed a diet enriched with TVA passed the nutrient to their pups, leading to increased production of immune cells during early development. Genetic analyses also showed that TVA exposure during breastfeeding reprogrammed immune cells to improve responses to pathogens. Mice that were nursed on TVA-enriched milk responded faster to infections with viruses or common bacteria, even into adulthood.
“It’s common knowledge that breastfeeding is important for neonatal immune development and overall health, but breast milk is so complex that it seems almost impossible that one single molecule would be sufficient to change a baby’s immune development,” said Jing Chen, PhD, the Janet Davison Rowley Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine at UChicago and one of the senior authors of the new study. “So, it was very surprising to see that during this crucial stage of development, one nutrient derived from the mother’s diet and delivered through breastfeeding has such a tremendous effect.”
Long-term immune imprinting
Trans-vaccenic acid is a long-chain fatty acid found in meat and dairy products from grazing animals such as cows and sheep. The human and mouse body cannot produce TVA on its own, so it must be obtained through diet. In a 2023 study, Chen and his colleagues found that it improves the ability of CD8+ T cells to infiltrate tumors and kill cancer cells in adult mice. Because TVA is also abundant in human breast milk, the researchers wanted to understand how it might influence immune development early in life.
In a series of mouse experiments, the team fed nursing mothers a diet enriched with TVA. The nutrient was passed on to their pups through breast milk, where it promoted the development of a broader and more effective immune cell population, particularly CD4+ T cells that are important for adaptive immunity.
Working with Chuan He, PhD, the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry and a senior author of the study, the researchers also conducted genetic analyses that revealed how increased TVA helped reprogram CD4+ T cells in the mice in a way that shifted their natural immune responses to favor fighting off microbes and other pathogens, instead of responding to antigens. Later experiments showed that when mice raised on TVA-enriched breast milk were exposed to the flu virus or Salmonella, they responded more quickly and had better survival rates than controls.
Interestingly, this advantage appeared only when mice were exposed to TVA during breastfeeding. Pups that were exposed to TVA via the mothers’ diet during pregnancy but were then nursed by a foster mother who was not on a TVA-rich diet did not have these improved responses to infection.
“We saw that only postnatal exposure to TVA through breastfeeding is important to train the neonatal T cells, and this can have long-lasting imprinting effects,” Chen said. “Even in adulthood, when we challenged the mice with influenza, the ones that were exposed to higher TVA levels during breastfeeding responded better when battling the infection.”
Chen also partnered with Erika Claud, MD, the Stephen Family Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the UChicago Center for the Science of Early Trajectories (SET), who studies the biology of early-life development on long-term health and wellbeing. Claud’s work with the SET Center complements Chen’s longstanding interest in the impact of nutrition on immune system development and health outcomes. The research team worked with the Metabolomics Platform at the UChicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, led by Hardik Shah, to analyze TVA levels in breast milk and blood samples from human nursing mothers and infants from a biorepository maintained by the SET Center.
They found that higher TVA levels in breast milk were closely linked to higher TVA levels in infants’ blood. In preterm infants, levels of circulating TVA correlated with similar shifts in immune responses to those the researchers saw in mice. Higher TVA levels in human breast milk were also associated with reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects premature infants with underdeveloped lungs and increased susceptibility to respiratory infection.
‘A question that has huge health impact’
Chen said working with partners like He, with his extensive experience with RNA sequencing and epigenetic analysis, and Claud, with her expertise on early infant development, was crucial to the success of this study. “This was truly ‘team science.’ It definitely reflects the great collaborative environment here at UChicago,” he said. “That's our strong suit, with three different departments working together to address a question that has huge health impact.”
With multiple studies now showing the immune benefits of TVA, particularly in the early-life period, Chen said he hopes there will be more research on the possibilities for supplementing diets with TVA during pregnancy and breastfeeding or adding it to infant formula. The team wants to investigate other fatty acids and nutrients found in breast milk to understand their benefits as well.
“There are close to 40 fatty acids in total in breast milk, along with hundreds of other components,” Chen said. “So, I think it's safe for us to say that we believe there could be additional fatty acids and nutrients that can do something similar.”
Additional authors include Hao Fan, Zhong Zheng, Kaitlyn Oliphant, Jiacheng Li, Cheng Wei Ju, Brandon Trandai, Jiayi Tu, Freya Q. Zhang, Rukang Zhang, Zhicheng Xie, Chunzhao Yin, Chufan Cai, Megan S. Kennedy, Tess McNeely, Candace Cham, Robert B. Hamanaka, Gökhan M. Mutlu and Eugene B. Chang from UChicago; Ryan Mack and Jiwang Zhang from Loyola University Chicago; Lei Dong from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Rui Su from the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope; Camilia R. Martin from Weill Cornell Medicine; Brian T. Layden from the University of Illinois Chicago; and Hongbo Chi from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Nearly all Michiganders age 50 and over say it’s very important to keep their brains healthy as they grow older, a new poll finds.
But less than half (47%) of middle-aged and older Michiganders know that everyday actions can be very important for reducing their future risk of dementia.
And half or less practice at least one of four key habits daily or most days that can protect their brain health as they age.
The poll findings come at a time when research clearly shows connections between dementia risk and lifestyle factors such as what people eat and drink; how much sleep, social interaction, and mental and physical activity they get; and how well they manage their cholesterol, weight and hearing loss.
Michigan adults aged 50 and over were less likely than their national counterparts to believe that lifestyle factors are very important in maintaining brain health. In all, 70% of them said so, compared with 76% of people in the same age range in other states.
The poll also finds regional differences within Michigan. People aged 50 and over in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula were less likely to believe that healthy lifestyle behaviors are very important for reducing dementia risk.
“Greater public education regarding brain health, building on efforts like the Alzheimer’s Association’s 10 Healthy Habits for Your Brain initiative, could go a long way in encouraging middle-to-older age adults in Michigan to develop healthy habits that reduce their risk of cognitive decline,” said Scott Roberts, Ph.D., Associate Director of the National Poll on Healthy Aging and a Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
“At the same time, it’s also important to educate older adults to be wary of ‘too good to be true’ products such as nutritional supplements now being marketed to preserve brain health,” he said.
Roberts and the rest of the poll team worked with the Alzheimer’s Association to collect and analyze data for the organization’srecent national report on brain health in America. That national survey, which assessed knowledge of brain-protecting activities among people age 40 and up, informed the annual update of the organization’s influential Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report.
The Michigan-specific poll surveyed people age 50 and up, the focus population for the ongoing Michigan Poll on Healthy Aging funded by the Michigan Health Endowment FundandMichigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center.
Roberts will discuss the findings at a June 30 webinar presented by the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Participation is free but registration is required.
Key lifestyle factors for brain health
The survey listed 15 health and lifestyle factors commonly associated with lower dementia risk, and asked respondents to rate how important each is in maintaining brain health.
The percentage of older adults rating each one as very important to brain health varied widely:
80% for preventing head injury
71% for managing stress, not smoking and treating depression
70% for controlling blood pressure
58% for limiting alcohol
57% for maintaining a healthy weight
54% for managing cholesterol
53% for addressing hearing loss
The survey also asked Michiganders 50 and over how often they do activities known to help preserve brain function. The percentage who reported they do these activities daily or on most days of the week:
Get 7 or more hours of sleep: 54%
Do mentally stimulating activities: 48%
Eat a healthy balanced diet: 40%
Get some form of daily physical activity, including walking or stretching: 36%
Each of these factors were rated as very important to brain health by 61% to 68% of all respondents.
Roberts recently presented the findings at a summit of the Michigan Dementia Coalition, a statewide organization that brings together academic, government, nonprofit, caregiver and patient representatives. Roberts is the Outreach, Recruitment & Engagement Core Lead at the Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s Michigan chapter, 11% of people over 65 in Michigan have Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. Their family and friends provide more than 680 million hours of unpaid care for them every year.
The role of healthcare professionals
Preventing dementia, or delaying it as long as possible, through lifestyle changes in midlife and earlier, is crucial, said poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the U-M Medical School and a primary care physician at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
“Healthcare providers across our state, and our nation, could do much more to help our patients understand the link between the lifestyle choices they make today and their future brain health,” he said. “Our state’s adult population has high rates of risk factors for dementia, and we need to work together to address them at every age.”
Most older Michiganders said they would want to learn more about brain health from their healthcare provider.
But these conversations aren’t common: just 23% had discussed the topic with their provider. Among Michiganders age 65 and over, 30% have had a cognitive screening test in the past year, which can help identify early stages of dementia.
While universal cognitive screening for all people over age 65 has not been recommended by all national organizations, simple cognitive testing can be done as part of a regular checkup, especially if someone is concerned about their memory or thinking ability, or a loved one has expressed concern.
New prescription medications designed to slow decline in the early stages of cognitive impairment have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years. So have blood tests for biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (e.g., amyloid, tau) that can help aid in diagnosis and early detection.
However, there is no cure for dementia at any stage, making prevention crucial.
The Michigan Poll on Healthy Aging includes data from 1,293 Michigan adults age 50 to 93 from the NORC AmeriSpeak panel and supplemental non-probability panel participants, who were compared to 2,808 non-Michigan adults age 50 to 98. The survey was administered online and via phone in January 2026.
