UNDERSTANDING MECHANISMS OF RISK AND RESILIENCE THROUGHOUT BRAIN & BEHAVIOR DEVELOPMENT
THE CHALLENGES THAT DRIVE OUR WORK
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To understand why some youths who grow up with developmental stress become suicidal, while others do not (resilient).
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To timely identify those at risk for serious psychopathology and divert the developmental trajectory from risk to resilience.
THE QUESTIONS WE ASK
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What are the mechanisms that drive variability in the development of brain and behavior?
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How do environmental (E) exposures (e.g., trauma, neighborhood environment) interact among themselves (E X E), and with biological (e.g., genetic (G)) factors (G X E), to shape developmental trajectories of youth?
OUR VISION
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Promote resilience and prevent suicide and serious psychiatric outcomes in youths.
OUR MISSION
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Conduct impactful translational science aimed at reducing youth mental health burden.
OUR RESEARCH
In the BarziLab, we use multiple methods to understand variability in the development of brain and behavior.
We study how a myriad of environmental exposures (such as trauma and socioeconomic factors) dynamically interact among themselves, and with biological factors (such as genetic and epigenetic) to shape the development of brain and behavior.
OUR VALUES
We collect and analyze large human datasets.
We do collaborative interdisciplinary science.
We work with basic scientists to inform mechanistic gaps that can only be investigated in animal models.
OUR APPROACH
CONDUCT LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
BarziLab studies at-risk youths throughout development in attempt to elucidate the immune mechanisms associated with risk and resilience to developmental stress.
ANALYSE EXISTING LARGE-SCALE INFORMATIVE DATASETS
BarziLab uses available human datasets that can inform on the factors (features) that drive risk and resilience. We are specifically interested in integrating data from multiple levels of environmental exposures (exposome) with large scale biological data (e.g., genomics, imaging) and other available data sources (such as electronic health records) in order to better understand complex mechanisms of development and to allow prediction of adverse behavioural outcomes such as suicidal behavior.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Probing the digital exposome: Associations of social media use patterns with youth mental health
NPP—Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience
Pagliaccio, D., Tran, K.T., Visoki, E. et al. Probing the digital exposome: associations of social media use patterns with youth mental health. NPP—Digit Psychiatry Neurosci 2, 5 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44277-024-00006-9
Classification of suicide attempt risk using environmental and lifestyle factors in 3 large youth cohorts
JAMA Psychiatry
Visoki, E., Moore, T. M., Zhang, X., Tran, K. T., Ly, C., Gatavinš, M. M., DiDomenico, G. E., Brogan, L., Fein, J. A., Warrier, V., Guloksuz, S., & Barzilay, R. (2024). Classification of Suicide Attempt Risk Using Environmental and Lifestyle Factors in 3 Large Youth Cohorts. JAMA psychiatry, e241887. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.1887
A general exposome factor explains individual differences in functional brain network topography and cognition in youth
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Keller, A. S., Moore, T. M., Luo, A., Visoki, E., Gataviņš, M. M., Shetty, A., Cui, Z., Fan, Y., Feczko, E., Houghton, A., Li, H., Mackey, A. P., Miranda-Dominguez, O., Pines, A., Shinohara, R. T., Sun, K. Y., Fair, D. A., Satterthwaite, T. D., & Barzilay, R. (2024). A general exposome factor explains individual differences in functional brain network topography and cognition in youth. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 66, 101370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101370
Exposomic and polygenic contributions to allostatic load in early adolescence
Nature Mental Health
Hoffman, K.W., Tran, K.T., Moore, T.M. et al. Exposomic and polygenic contributions to allostatic load in early adolescence. Nat. Mental Health 2, 828–839 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00255-9
The ethics of risk prediction for psychosis and suicide attempt in youth mental health
The Journal of Pediatrics
Smith, W. R., Appelbaum, P. S., Lebowitz, M. S., Gülöksüz, S., Calkins, M. E., Kohler, C. G., Gur, R. E., & Barzilay, R. (2023). The ethics of risk prediction for psychosis and suicide attempt in youth mental health. The Journal of Pediatrics, 263, 113583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113583
Association between state-level access to reproductive care and suicide rates among women of reproductive age in the United States
JAMA Psychiatry
Zandberg, J., Waller, R., Visoki, E., & Barzilay, R. (2023). Association between state-level access to reproductive care and suicide rates among women of reproductive age in the United States. JAMA psychiatry, 80(2), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.4394
COLLABORATORS
We aim to solve complicated challenges that require a multidisciplinary team of clinicians,
data scientists, geneticists, immunologists, developmental psychologists, basic neuroscientists and computational biologists.
SELECTED PROJECTS
Allostatic load in early adolescence: gene - environment contributions and relevance for mental health