NDEx Journal Club: Exploring Environmental Adversity and Brain Maturation

Created on January 15, 2026

2026

At the NDEx Journal Club hosted by the Horton Lab, our team presented recent work on the intersection of environmental stressors and neurodevelopment. Sam Edwards (Clinical Researcher, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) led the discussion.

The session focused on a recent study investigating how Socioeconomic Status (SES) and Traumatic Stressful Events (TSEs) uniquely and collectively impact youth outcomes.

The Objective

The primary goal of the presented research was to compare the associations of low SES and TSEs with psychopathology, puberty, neurocognition, and multimodal neuroimaging parameters. Using data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (nearly 9,500 participants), the study aimed to bridge key gaps in understanding how diverse environmental domains shape brain maturation.

Key Findings and Discussion Points

The presentation sparked a deep dive into a neuroexposomics framework, examining how environmental experiences can influence biological trajectories:

  • Symptom Severity: Both low SES and TSEs were associated with moderate-to-large increases in psychiatric symptom severity across domains including mood, anxiety, and psychosis spectrum symptoms.
  • Accelerated Maturation: A major theme was accelerated neurodevelopment in youths facing adversity. Both risk factors were linked to earlier puberty and to specific regional brain changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo).
  • Cognitive Impacts: While both factors were associated with deficits in complex cognition, the discussion noted a nuanced pattern: TSEs were sometimes associated with stronger episodic memory, contrasting with deficits in other cognitive areas.
  • Methodological Insights: Members engaged in a critical conversation about construct definitions. We discussed how SES operationalization (census-based geocoding) and TSE characterization (structured interviews) can influence outcomes, and why transparency in these decisions is essential.

Looking Ahead

This session captured the mission of the NDEx forum: understanding how environmental exposures shape brain trajectories from early development through later-life outcomes. We closed with a thoughtful discussion about balancing comprehensive, multimodal datasets with the need for clear and focused scientific narratives.

About NDEx

The NDEx (Neurodevelopment, Neurodegeneration, and Environmental Exposures) Journal Club, hosted by the Horton Lab, meets on the third Thursday of each month to explore how the environment shapes the brain across the lifespan.