Austin Lab

Principal Investigator

The Tissue Mapping of Environmental Signatures (TiMES) lab focuses on the development of novel biomarkers of early relational health (ERH) and the environmental factors that can impact it.

Led by Christine Austin, PhD, the TiMES lab uses both analytical chemistry and histological techniques to develop tools to:

  1. Investigate the mechanisms of environmental impacts on ERH
  2. Identify critical windows for effective prevention, and fine-tune intervention strategies that improve child health and development.

The spatial distribution of biomarkers within tissues can provide important information about target cells and the biological responses elicited by exposure. In tissues that grow incrementally, spatial information also provides temporal information. So whereas tissues like blood and urine give one concentration at one time point, tissues like teeth and hair can actually reconstruct a history of exposure during early life or other critical windows, at a daily level.

By mapping each tissue at multiple time points within an individual, the TiMES lab is building a novel understanding of how (and, importantly, when) environmental exposures—such as chemicals, heavy metals, and stress—impact development and health. 

TheTiMES lab dives into questions such as:

  • Are there specific biomarkers of relational health?
    • How do the social aspects of environmental exposure (e.g. chronic vs. acute stress events and resulting inflammation) impact relational health?
    • How does illness impact relational outcomes between a caregiver & child?
  • Are there critical time points that specifically affect ERH?
    • Are there specific windows when a person is most vulnerable to environmental exposure?
    • If you’re stressed at certain time points, does that prime you for resilience? Make you less resilient?
    • Would interventions at those time points be more effective?

The TiMES lab works closely with the center’s basic science arm (the DOOR lab) to develop methods to measure and validate biomarkers before applying them in ERH initiatives; and with the center’s PANDA lab, using computational analysis to look at trends within samples, to elucidate how various events support or dysregulate health in the individual and/or dyad.