# Early Adversity and Human Microbiome-Hippocampal Development: Anxiety Associations

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $245,223

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 My career goal is to lead a multidisciplinary research team that investigates the developmental
pathways between early adversity and anxiety. The lab will implement a cross-species model, using
forwards and backwards translation across multiple biological and psychological systems to uncover
malleable points of intervention, which can then be age-appropriately targeted to affect change in anxiety
symptoms. To effectively lead this future research team, I require intensive training in the fields of
microbiology, neuroscience, and developmental psychology. My training to date has provided me with a
strong foundation of skills in clinical/developmental psychology, rodent behavior, and molecular
neuroscience. My career development plan expands on this skill set to provide essential further training in
stress/adversity, development, memory, fMRI, analysis of microbial ecology, and psychopathology. By
engaging in this protected training time, I will enter my independent stage of research well prepared to lead
the first research team purposefully established to study the development of microbiome-brain interactions
following adversity. Research Project: Early experiences of adversity are strong contributors to anxiety
disorders. However, the developmental mechanisms underlying the adversity-anxiety link remain elusive.
Extensive evidence now implicates two systems in the emergence of anxiety, and which are affected by
early adversity: the gastrointestinal microbiome and the hippocampal memory system. While studies have
independently found associations between adversity, anxiety, microbial and hippocampal development, the
shared and interactive effects of the microbiome and hippocampal memory on the emergence of anxiety
symptoms have never been examined. The goal of the proposed project is to produce a longitudinal data
set integrating microbial, hippocampal, and memory information across typical and adversity-exposed
developing samples and to use this data to uncover predictive pathways that end in anxiety. Specifically, in
line with my preliminary data, I will test the hypothesis that adversity effects on anxiety are mediated
through a sequential pathway of alterations to the microbiome, and hippocampal memory systems. In one
integrated study I will determine the effect of early adversity on microbiome composition across
development (Aim 1), before examining the association between the microbiome and hippocampal-based
memory maturation in typically developing humans (Aim 2). Finally, in the R00-phase I will determine
whether effects of adversity on anxiety occur through the pathway of microbial alterations and hippocampal
memory development alterations (Aim 3). Elucidating the independent and interactive contributions of the
microbiome and hippocampal memory system to anxiety is essential for identifying treatment targets which
can be applied to adversity exposed individuals, benefiting lifespan mental health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10212204
- **Project number:** 5R00MH113821-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Bridget L Callaghan
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $245,223
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10212204

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10212204, Early Adversity and Human Microbiome-Hippocampal Development: Anxiety Associations (5R00MH113821-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10212204. Licensed CC0.

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