MDIBL scientists decipher role of a stress response gene

(Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory) A team of scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, led by James A. Coffman, Ph.D., is shedding new light on the gene regulatory pathways activated by cortisol, a hormone secreted in response to stress. Their research helps explain why exposure to chronic stress early in life shortens lifespan and contribute to age-related chronic diseases later in life -- long after the source of stress has been removed.