{"id":176,"date":"2019-12-12T19:22:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T19:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avada.theme-fusion.com_demos\/cafe\/?p=176"},"modified":"2019-12-20T18:53:02","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T18:53:02","slug":"vt-news-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/2019\/12\/12\/vt-news-story\/","title":{"rendered":"New Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty member links nature, nurture, and early brain development"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\"  style='background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;'><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row \"><div  class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_5 fusion-builder-column-0 fusion-one-fifth fusion-column-first 1_5\"  style='margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;width:20%;width:calc(20% - ( ( 4% + 4% ) * 0.2 ) );margin-right: 4%;'><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\" style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"   data-bg-url=\"\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div  class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_3_5 fusion-builder-column-1 fusion-three-fifth 3_5\"  style='margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;width:60%;width:calc(60% - ( ( 4% + 4% ) * 0.6 ) );margin-right: 4%;'><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\" style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"   data-bg-url=\"\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-two\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:31px;\"><h2 class=\"title-heading-left\" style=\"margin:0;color:#314660;\"><h2 data-fontsize=\"45\" data-lineheight=\"70\">New Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty member links nature, nurture, and early brain development<\/h2><\/h2><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text\"><p>Numerous studies have suggested that when expecting and new mothers are stressed, hormonal changes not only impact the mother\u2019s health, but also affect the baby\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<p>But unpacking these reports can be complicated.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the genetic traits inherited from the baby\u2019s parents, other factors, including epigenetic modifications occurring in utero or after birth, nutrition, feeding habits, sleep hygiene, home conditions, and mother-baby interactions, can all influence brain development during the first few months of life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur lab is focused on getting a comprehensive view of how mothers impact infant brain development,\u201d said Brittany Howell, an assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.<\/p>\n<p>Howell\u2019s research program blends biological and behavioral analysis to capture a wide range of factors implicated in healthy human brain development.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers on her team will analyze and compare breast milk composition, feeding habits, stress levels, fecal microbiology, social behavior, and brain imaging data.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to understand how the mother\u2019s health and behavior influence infant brain development so we can define what the brain needs to develop optimally,\u201d said Howell, who is also an assistant professor in the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences\u2019 Department of Human Development and Family Science.<\/p>\n<p>Her lab starts recruiting new mothers to participate in longitudinal research studies in early 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to joining Virginia Tech\u2019s faculty in August, Howell was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Minnesota\u2019s Institute of Child Development, where she was involved in developing the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1053811918302593\">UNC\/UMN Baby Connectome Project and BCP-Enriched<\/a>, which characterized brain and behavioral development of infants during the first five years of life.<\/p>\n<p>Howell grew up in New Hampshire. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Tulane University and a doctoral degree in neuroscience from Emory University, where she studied the impact of early adversity and stress.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div  class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_5 fusion-builder-column-2 fusion-one-fifth fusion-column-last 1_5\"  style='margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;width:20%;width:calc(20% - ( ( 4% + 4% ) * 0.2 ) );'><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\" style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"   data-bg-url=\"\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/brit1.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Whitney Slightham","author_link":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/author\/wslightham\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1969,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/1969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.vtc.vt.edu\/howell\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}