Akil U-M Freshman Study on Stress & Resilience

Illustration of a young person swinging on a tree with a swing that looks like a DNA strand. A second person sits with head down & back against the tree

Searching for biological factors of stress vulnerability and resilience

Description

We seek to understand the factors that influence stress vulnerability and resilience. Specifically, we are interested in studying college freshmen at the University of Michigan to 1) help identify individuals at risk of developing depression and 2) deploy mechanisms to potentially prevent symptoms of depression and anxiety. We collect various measure at baseline and throughout the freshmen year, including genetics, hormone levels, sleep/activity levels, questionnaires/interviews and cognitive tests. The ultimate goal is prediction and prevention in college freshmen, a vulnerable time made more vulnerable by the pandemic.

Funding

This study was supported by the Office of Naval Research Grants N00014-09-1-0598, N00014-12-1-0366 and N00014-19-1-2149, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium Fund LLC. 

Links

Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium: http://www.pritzkerneuropsych.org

Hope for Depression Research Foundation: https://www.hopefordepression.org/

See our latest paper here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10710019/

 

Watch this video from Dr. Huda Akil (2023 recipient of the National Medal of Science)