Developmental Psychobiology Lab

The Developmental Psychobiology Lab’s (DPBlab) research focuses on early life influences on development. During pregnancy and the early postnatal years, environmental factors are more likely to exert programming, or long-term, effects on the child’s development. Our lab’s research includes three lines: first, influences of prenatal maternal mental wellbeing on children’s health and behavioural development; second, development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in children, the body’s most important stress system, and its relation to behavioural and emotional regulation and physical health. And third, the development of the intestinal microbiota and its relation to children’s health, behavioural and emotion regulation, and HPA axis.