Causative Mechanisms & Integrative Models Linking Early Life Stress to Psycho-Cardio-Metabolic Multimorbidity EarlyCause is a ... highly interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme under grant number 848158. The project brings together specialists from a wide variety of research areas – including data science, psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, biology, the social sciences, nutrition, pharmacy, neuroendocrinology, behavioural studies, pediatric health and medicine, and medical imaging – to examine which aspects of early life stress (ELS) are linked to the concomitant development of psychological, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Furthermore, EarlyCause assesses whether these co-morbid symptoms can be diminished or prevented by intervention to avoid disease and improve quality of life and well-being. The consortium will disentangle the complex biological contributions from four key interconnected domains linked to ELS, namely epigenetics, inflammation, neuroendocrine system, and microbiome. Furthermore, modifying effects of environmental factors such as sex/gender, socioeconomics, lifestyle and behaviour will be quantified, thus uncovering potential intervention targets that may reverse the causative mechanisms and reduce the impact of ELS on the development of multimorbidity in high-risk individuals. Consortium members: Universitat de Barcelona (UB) European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam (EMC) Universität Zürich (UZH) King’s College London (KCL) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Centre Européen de Recherche en Biologie et Médicine (CERBM) Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico-Fatebenefratelli (IRCCS) University of Bath (BATH) VU Amsterdam Medical Centre (VUmc) Empirica Communication and Technology Research (EMP) Combinostics Oy (COMBI) Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) More information at https://earlycause.eu/. read more