Strachan E

Current Smoking as a Predictor of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Young Adult Twins

Holley AL, Law EF, Tham SW, Myaing M, Noonan C, Strachan E, Palermo TM Chronic pain is common during adolescence and young adulthood and is associated with poor quality of life, depression, and functional disability. Recognizing that chronic pain has significant consequences, it is important to identify modifiable health behaviors that may place young adults […]

Epigenetic Determinants of Major Depression: A Monozygotic Discordant Twin Study

PI: Jinying Zhao and Eric StrachanProject number: 5R01MH097018Project dates: 8/15/2013–7/31/2018 Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder that affects millions of Americans. Despite substantial research, no specific risk factor has yet been identified as having a causal role in MDD. Epigenetic modifications, especially DNA methylation, are increasingly being recognized as a key mechanism involved in […]

The University of Washington Twin Registry: Poised for the next generation of twin research

Strachan E, Hunt C, Afari N, Duncan G, Noonan C, Schur E, Watson N, Goldberg J, Buchwald D The University of Washington Twin Registry is a unique community-based registry of twin pairs who join specifically to participate in scientific research. It was founded in 2002 to serve as a resource for investigators throughout the scientific […]

Genetic and environmental influences on residential location in the US

Duncan GE, Dansie EJ, Strachan E, Munsell M, Huang R, Vernez Moudon A, Goldberg J, Buchwald D We used a classical twin design and measures of neighborhood walkability and social deprivation, using each twin’s street address, to examine genetic and environmental influences on the residential location of 1389 same-sex pairs from a US community-based twin […]

C-Reactive Protein and Pain Sensitivity: Findings from Female Twins

Afari N, Mostoufi S, Noonan C, Poeschla B, Succop A, Chopko L, Strachan E Systemic inflammation and pain sensitivity may contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain conditions. We examined the relationship between systemic inflammation as measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) and cold pain sensitivity in 198 female twins from the University of Washington […]

Personality, Stress, and HSV-1 Infection: A Twin Study

PI: Eric StrachanProject Number: 1R21AI081347Project Dates: 9/1/2009–8/31/2011 A large and growing body of psychoneuroimmunology research demonstrates that psychological stress is an important moderator of immune system functioning. Recent studies suggest, however, that it is not the presence of a stressor per se but rather individual difference in appraisals of, and responses to, the stressor that leads […]