Colloquia Recording Here

Title: Characterizing the long-term impacts of developmental air pollution exposure on risk for mental illness

Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is a modifiable environmental risk factor for mental illness. However, due to challenges in acquiring required longitudinal datasets and a scarcity of PM2.5 monitoring prior to the 1990s, critical questions remain as to the long-term impacts of PM2.5 exposure during development on risk for mental illness. Notably, it remains unclear if exposure during certain developmental periods have unique impacts on long-term risk for mental illness, whether the pattern of exposure matters (e.g. extreme vs average exposure), and whether the impacts of exposure differ between the sexes. In this talk, I will present findings from two interdisciplinary studies which utilized unique longitudinal datasets to investigate these and related issues. Specifically, I will present evidence from the Longitudinal Twin Study that in women, PM2.5 exposure during infancy is associated with increased risk for depression three decades later in adulthood, as well as findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study suggesting that the frequency of exposure to extreme levels of PM2.5 has a larger impact on youth mental health than average levels of exposure. Together, these studies highlight that the impacts of developmental exposure to PM2.5 on risk for mental illness are heterogenous, while paving the way for follow up research into the neural bases and genetic moderators of associations between PM2.5 exposure and mental illness.

Bio:

Harry Smolker is a Research Scientist in the Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS) at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he leads a series of interdisciplinary projects investigating air pollution’s long-term impacts on the brain and mental health. Harry first joined ICS in 2011 as a professional research assistant, working closely with several ICS faculty to execute MRI studies investigating a range of topics. After several years in this role, Harry began his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, in which he leveraged MRI and behavioral genetic techniques to characterize the neuropsychological processes central to cognitive control and mental illness. Shortly after completing his PhD in 2020, Harry became a new father while much of the Colorado Front Range was inundated in wildfire smoke, causing him to want to better understand the impacts of extreme air pollution events on the developing brain. These experiences marked the beginning of a new direction in Harry’s research in which he now integrates his training in psychology and neuroscience with methods from environmental sciences to better understand how exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution impacts the developing brain and mind.

Readings:

Peeples, L. (2020). How air pollution threatens brain health. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(25), 13856-13860.