Berliners 🇩🇪🐻! You are cordially invited to join my talk at @molgen.mpg.de this Monday. I’ll be discussing our efforts in building a "molecular bridge". 📍 MPI-MG, Ihnestraße 63 🗓️ Monday, May 4 | 11:00 AM 🔗 www.molgen.mpg.de/events/45291...

Laurel Raffington: A molecular bridge that connects social inequality to biology spanning from childhood to adulthood

molgen.mpg.de

I never studied molecular biology, but have found epigenetics to be an exciting substrate to probe evo-devo theories (lifespan plasticity, developmental origins of health and disease, life history, gene X social inequality). Cheers to reuniting the divorcées "social science" and "life science" 💗

ESSGN@essgn.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In this week's episode of Born and Raised, we met Laurel Raffington at MPIB to talk all things epigenetics, the history and ethics of doing sociogenomic research in Germany, and the importance of lifting weights. Don't miss!

💼 💔 Academia’s toxic love language is playing “hard to get” 🧪 💓 Science is the beautiful pursuit of building knowledge I wrote an essay for Nature Human Behaviour on treating academia as “just a job” www.nature.com/articles/s41... What ideas would you add? 💡 #HigherEd #PhDLife #DiversityInSTEM

We have an open postdoc position in Social Science Genomics in Berlin! Includes gene-environment interplay within German population cohorts & experimental online survey studies to probe public perceptions of potential DNA biomarker applications 🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2196134/2025...

Postdoctoral Position in Social Science Genomics | Max Planck Research Group Biosocial

mpib-berlin.mpg.de

If you are enthusiastic about making developmental sociogenomics magic using AI, I just signed up as an "X" advisor in the new Max Planck AI Network. PhD applications open from October 1 - 31 >>> ai.mpg.de/@maxplanck.de

The new application cycle for our fully funded international graduate program has just started. You can now apply via our website, sign up for a Q&A, or participate in the Applicant Support Program cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en ! 👍🏻🧠👏🏾#passionforscience, #maxplanckschools

“The impact on health of a childhood in poverty may not be apparent until later life.” @laraffington.bsky.social studies how children’s early environments become embedded in their biology and may affect later outcomes. #ChildDev boldscience.org/the-developm...

What are the long-term impacts of childhood interventions?

Laurel Raffington uses epigenetic biomarkers to measure the long-term impacts of childhood interventions

boldscience.org

Using saliva DNA methylation to study genetic susceptibility to common diseases given limitations of GWAS to identify molecular mechanisms (LD between nearby polymorphisms and most of the identified markers are in non-coding regions of the genome) >>> www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Saliva as a potential diagnostic medium: DNA methylation biomarkers for disorders beyond the oral cavity - npj Genomic Medicine

npj Genomic Medicine - Saliva as a potential diagnostic medium: DNA methylation biomarkers for disorders beyond the oral cavity

nature.com

Interesting application "Epigenetic clocks may enhance IVF success prediction, particularly in women between 31 and 35.... importance of developing epigenetic models specifically tailored to fertility outcomes " link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Epigenetic age and fertility timeline: testing an epigenetic clock to forecast in vitro fertilization success rate - Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Background In the field of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the search for reliable success predictors is ongoing, with novel biomarkers gaining increasing attention. Epigenetic clocks, mathematical mode...

link.springer.com

Humbled to receive the BGA's early career award ☺️ Thank you to my brilliant team #MPRGBiosocial, the @maxplanck.de for investing in early career researchers, @mpib-berlin.bsky.social for the excellent environment, and my many mentors incl @kph3k.bsky.social @tuckerdrob.bsky.social #ScienceTeamSport

Behavior Genetics Association@behaviorgenetic.bsky.social · last yr.

🏆 @laraffington.bsky.social‬ won the early career award, and Paul Liechtenstein won the Dobzhansky award

🔍 Behind the paper: 'Racism Gets Under the Skin: Social Disparities in Children’s Mental Health and Epigenetic-Clock-Measured Biological Aging' by @munaaikins.bsky.social, @denizfraemke.bsky.social, @laraffington.bsky.social, Yayouk Willems & Bridget Goosby. Read more ➡️ bit.ly/43fLZVN

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC? From the next application rounds, expect changes to the: • proposal structure • evaluation process • extra funding you can request • eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027) More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes

With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

europa.eu

Lower socioeconomic status and marginalized race/ethnicity is associated with more accelerated and faster biological aging as measured by epigenetic clocks and there was NO evidence of publication bias - a rare finding for biomarkers 🤯 Meta-analytic dataset will be released soon! 🔖

@ywillems.bsky.social · last yr.

🏡🧬 Our new meta-analysis of 140 studies including ~66,000 people finds that lower socioeconomic status and marginalized race/ethnicity is associated with faster epigenetic biological aging. Find out which epigenetic clocks show the strongest effects 👇 tinyurl.com/metaclocks

You’ve collected saliva and want to work with epigenetic clocks⏱️ developed in blood DNAm, will you get the same measure? Check out @sepidehzarandooz.bsky.social first pub and thread for the answer! doi.org/10.1186/s131... #MPRGBiosocial @imprs-life.bsky.social

Sepideh Zarandooz@sepidehzarandooz.bsky.social · last yr.

You’ve collected saliva and want to work with epigenetic clocks⏱️ developed in blood DNAm, will you get the same measure? The answer: moderately so, depending on the algorithm! Excited to share my first PhD pub with @laraffington.bsky.social doi.org/10.1186/s131... #MPRGBiosocial

It would be scientifically catastrophic to end this decades long study with 42k women continuing to be followed up, providing unique opportunities to learn new insights into women’s health and characterize risk of many health ailments including chronic disease www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH cancels its first and largest study centered on women

The Women’s Health Initiative has produced numerous influential findings

science.org

New #MPRGBiosocial paper in Molecular Psychiatry: “Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health & epigenetic biological aging across childhood & adolescence” w/ @yayoukwillems @denizfraemke.bsky.social @laraffington.bsky.social 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Blog Post: lnkd.in/dKsgagYc

Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence - Molecular Psychiatry

Molecular Psychiatry - Linked emergence of racial disparities in mental health and epigenetic biological aging across childhood and adolescence

nature.com

We are looking for a scientist passionate about developmental psychology, sociogenomics, and DNA methylation in a cash gift RCT postdocprogram.mpg.de/node/692! 3.5+ yr position in Berlin (until April 30, 2029) integrated into a new Max Planck postdoc program www.mpg.de/en/max-planc... #MPRGBiosocial

9/9. In line with transactional models of human development, rooted in evocative/active gene-environment correlation, children seek out environmental experiences that align with their genetic dispositions, partly based on their non-cognitive characteristics, leading to different learning outcomes.🧬🌳

🧬🌳 New CoDE lab preprint: From genetic disposition to academic achievement: The mediating role of non-cognitive skills across development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... On 🦋: @andrealle.bsky.social @kailirimfeld.bsky.social @laraffington.bsky.social A short thread 👇 (1/9)

From genetic disposition to academic achievement: The mediating role of non-cognitive skills across development

Genetic effects on academic achievement are likely to capture environmental, developmental, and psychological processes. How these processes contribute to translating genetic dispositions into observe...

biorxiv.org

Watch this space for an MPRG Biosocial postdoc call within this dreamwork postdoc program (at least three years, extended mentorship program, science & industry career coaching)!

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft@maxplanck.de · last yr.

‼️Save the date‼️The new Max Planck #Postdoc Program kicks off its first call for applications from April 1, 2025; applications can be submitted until May 13, 2025. mpg.de/en/max-planc... #ScienceCareer

King's College London launches the Atlas of Longitudinal Datasets, in partnership with @wellcometrust.bsky.social / @mqmentalhealth.bsky.social, a free platform with over 1,600 datasets, to support mental health research worldwide. 🌍 Read more and learn how to access: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/kings-l...

King's launches the Atlas of Longitudinal Datasets to support mental health research

Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London have launched a new free platform to allow people to discover hundreds of longitudinal mental hea...

kcl.ac.uk

Are mental disorders extreme manifestations of continuous traits or genetically distinct entities? We present Genomic Taxometric Analysis of Continuous and Case-Control data (GTACCC) for evaluating genetic continuity and differentiation of traits across the severity spectrum. Tweetorial coming soon.

Our “Genetic Pinball” gamifies the interplay between genetics and social inequality in life course outcomes. I was asked: “How do you define freedom?” And replied: “To live your genetically influenced preferences”. Visit the boat or play a few rounds here >>> purplesloth.itch.io/genetic-pinb...

Laurel Raffington on LinkedIn: #mswissenschaft

Excited to be a part of the science museum #MSWissenschaft featuring interdisciplinary exhibits on “Freedom”. Our “Genetic Pinball” gamifies the interplay…

linkedin.com