IBSS-L: Epigenomic Effects of Colonization on Indigenous Populations

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

This interdisciplinary research project will analyze how changes in the social environment as a result of European colonization have contributed to psychological stress and to possible changes in the genomes and the expression of genes of indigenous peoples when assimilating to Westernized lifestyles. These biological changes (also known as epigenomics) may be similar to other communities whose people have also experienced trauma. The project also will investigate whether a return to ancestrally-informed social traditions modifies the biological changes of indigenous peoples when adjusting to a Westernized environment. The project will enhance understanding of how global historic events, such as European colonization, produce persistent biological effects that may still be seen today. Project results will provide insight into the impact of social stress on biology among indigenous peoples and will clarify potential points of intervention to reduce health disparities in this population. This project also will support a program for the training of indigenous students and community members in genomics theory and analyses, in conjunction with the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics program, which will conduct a specialized workshop at Kenai Peninsula College in Alaska to provide hands-on experience in molecular biology, bioinformatics, and other genomics related fields. These activities will help bolster program goals to increase the number of Native Americans serving as leaders in careers involving the sciences. The project will examine how well theories developed in psychology and related fields regarding the biological underpinnings of trauma manifested in psychological disorders applies in an anthropological context to Native Americans who have experienced social stress as a result of European colonization and assimilation to a Westernized life. The investigators will use multiple approaches in the study. Comparative genomic approaches will be used to assess points of convergence and divergence between the data regarding indigenous peoples gathered as part of this study and similar data about others who have experienced trauma. A comparison will be made with a non-indigenous control group from the same geographic location as the indigenous groups. Culturally informed surveys dealing with social lifestyles and stress will be conducted and analyzed using relevant statistical models, and DNA and genomes from skeletal remains of ancestral indigenous peoples who lived during the time of European contact will be isolated and analyzed. This project is supported through the NSF Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (IBSS) competition.