| Course Description |
This seminar course will focus on the
impact of the prenatal period in programming lifelong health and development through
altering physiology starting from the molecular level. We will start by defining the characteristics of the prenatal period and discuss history
and perspectives related to developmental programming. As our first main theme, we
will continue with discussing the effects of this developmental programming on
lifelong health and developmental outcomes. As the second main theme, we will cover
the physiological mechanisms underlying prenatal programming by focusing on the
changes in the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. As our third main theme, we
will further go into the molecular mechanisms associated with these physiological
changes, including epigenetic mechanisms and their potential intergenerational
transmission. We will end with discussing more recent topics in the field together with
policy implications of the topics discussed during the semester. By covering these topics, students are expected to gain a better understanding of a) how
our physiology, behavior and health is programmed starting from the prenatal period,
b) the mechanisms of prenatal programming, and c) the impact of prenatal
programming on our perspective on the prenatal environment. With this, the students
are expected to place behavior and health in a lifelong perspective with potential
intergenerational effects.
|
