Our Research
The McQuaid Lab studies stress processes. Our focus is on understanding the impacts of stressors and early-life trauma on mental health, specifically depression and other stress-related disorders. This includes a strong emphasis on considering the role of both peripheral biomarkers and psychosocial determinants in the stress-depression link.
Our research centered on stress includes a range of approaches, including:
1) lab-based experiments;
2) community-based research; and
3) population health.
UNDERSTANDING THE HETEROGENEITY OF DEPRESSION
Depression is a heterogeneous disorder and is highly comorbid with other stress-related disorders like anxiety and PTSD. This might be due to shared trauma and stressful experiences that are strong predictors of these disorders. We are taking a transdiagnostic approach to understanding depression, focusing on symptomatologies and stressor histories (rather than the confounds of psychiatric diagnoses) and linking these to peripheral inflammatory, genetic and epigenetic biomarkers in an effort to inform more personalized treatments in the future.
YOUNG WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH AND THE ROLE OF SEX STEROID HORMONES
Depression is twice as common in women compared to men, and this is especially apparent in young women (aged 15-24 years). One explanation for sex differences in depression are sex steroid hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone. Thus, it is surprising that over 300 million women worldwide use hormonal contraceptives that affect natural levels of estrogens and progestins with little knowledge on the potential implications on mental health, biological stress processes and the brain. We are focused on understanding the effects of specific types and formulations of hormonal contraceptives so that we can inform evidence-based decision making and individualized medical recommendations in the future.
INTERGENERATIONAL STRESS AND RESILIENCE
One component of our program of research examines how stressful experiences can be transmitted across generations to impact the health and wellness of the next generation. This includes working with a large cohort of mothers and their infants to examine the biological transmission of stress. Separately we have a stream of research examining how trauma related to harmful government policies can be transmitted across generations to impact current health and wellness among Indigenous peoples in Canada. This is conducted together with Dr. Amy Bombay. In both areas, we explore resiliency as a buffer against intergenerational stress transmission.