Members of the Hawn TRAC Lab is busy getting numerous research studies off the ground! These focus on a variety of health and behavior topics, including:
- Understanding the various forms of trauma-specific self-medication (e.g., trauma-related drinking to cope and other consumption-to-cope activities)
- Effects of self-medication on known biomarkers of disease and premature death (e.g., epigenetic aging, peripheral biomarkers of inflammation and neuropathology)
- Improving understanding of the full range of responses to trauma, including both adaptive (e.g., resilient) and adverse (e.g., PTSD) responses
- The effect of PTSD, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and co-occurring PTSD-AUD on the gut microbiome
Students and faculty collect and analyze data on these topics in preparation for conference presentations and peer-reviewed journal publications. Below is information about our current, collaborative, and recently completed research projects.