Exploring how parents promote survival in their offspring

The Marlin Lab examines the relationship between the innate and the learned for the survival of offspring

The Marlin Lab examines how organisms unlock innate behavior at the appropriate times (e.g., parental instinct), and how learned information is transmitted to subsequent generations via transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Through uncovering the mechanisms by which learning and emotion in one generation are transmitted biologically, rather than culturally, our work has the potential to have a positive impact on societal health— particularly for populations where trauma, stress, and unrest are a part of everyday life.

The Parental Brain

Parenthood induces a host of changes in the brain to promote the survival of offspring. Some alterations are new, while others unmask latent or "turned off" behaviors that exist within us. The Marlin Lab investigates how sensory systems and emotional brain circuits are altered by parenthood and learned experiences. We want to know how parents may unknowingly, but adaptively, prepare offspring for challenges they have experienced through the transfer of genetic and biological adaptations— and to identify inroads to intervene when these inherited adaptations are no longer beneficial.