Susan Hetzel

• University of Minnesota

The FK506 binding protein 5 gene ( FKBP5 ) has been associated with susceptibility to pathogenic effects of childhood trauma including dissociative symptoms. This study examines the impact of maltreatment on dissociative tendencies in adolescence as moderated by the FKBP5 gene. Dissociative symptoms and variation within FKBP5 were assessed in a hig...

Depressive symptoms are prevalent and rise during adolescence. The present study is a prospective investigation of environmental and genetic factors that contribute to the growth in depressive symptoms and the frequency of heightened symptoms during adolescence. Participants included 206 mother–father–adolescent triads (M age at Time 1 = 13.06 year...

In the present investigation, differential methylation analyses of the whole genome were conducted among a sample of 548 school-aged low-income children (47.8% female, 67.7% Black, M age = 9.40 years), 54.4% of whom had a history of child maltreatment. In the context of a summer research camp, DNA samples via saliva were obtained. Using GenomeStudi...

A genome-wide methylation study was conducted among a sample of 114 infants ( M age = 13.2 months, SD = 1.08) of low-income urban women with ( n = 73) and without ( n = 41) major depressive disorder. The Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array with a GenomeStudio Methylation Module and Illumina Custom model were used to conduct differential met...

In this investigation, gene-environment-gender interaction effects in predicting child borderline personality disorder symptomatology among maltreated and nonmaltreated low-income children (N = 1,051) were examined. In the context of a summer research camp, adult-, peer-, and self-report assessments of borderline precursor indicators were obtained,...

Adaptive behavior requires focusing on relevant tasks while remaining sensitive to novel information. In adult studies of cognitive control, cognitive stability involves maintaining robust cognitive representations while cognitive flexibility involves updating of representations in response to novel information. Previous adult research has shown th...

Early selective attention skills are a crucial building block for cognitive development, as attention orienting serves as a primary means by which infants interact with and learn from the environment. Although several studies have examined infants' attention orienting using the spatial cueing task, relatively few studies have examined neurodevelopm...

The molecular probes and associated instrumentation necessary to perform genetic analyses are typically expensive, complex, and prone to error. While techniques such as real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene expression analysis have provided a wealth of information previously unattainable, their utility in clinical diagnostics has yet t...