Be bolder and
dream bigger

For Bianca Jones Marlin, a neuroscientist who studies transgenerational epigenetic inheritance – that is, the way biological responses to stress are passed down from parents to their children and grandchildren – an interest in science was inspired by childhood lessons about trauma. Her biological parents were also foster parents, and her foster siblings would share stories about the food scarcity and abuse they had encountered in their young lives.

“These experiences are part of the ‘fuel’ that drives my science,” says Marlin. “I feel that it is my obligation to understand how trauma changes our brains and behavior – and also how these biological changes affect our children, our children’s children and so forth.”

Marlin says that collaboration with other scientists is what propels the work forward. In her neuroscience laboratory in New York City, she and her team work together to explore the ways that learning, emotion and trauma are transmitted to subsequent generations through DNA. Through studies, Marlin and her fellow scientists have found that stressful events experienced by parents can cause biological changes in their offspring in order to adapt to anticipated stress – and they hope to figure out what causes a “memory” of stress to be passed down genetically.

Marlin says the relationship between ancestral stress and reproductive health has reached a new urgency – pregnancy-related deaths have more than doubled since 1987, particularly among minority populations. To address this, through another collaboration with a chemical engineer, she has recently begun examining how ancestral stress impacts uterine and reproductive health in early pregnancy, often showing up as preeclampsia or miscarriage.

“Collaborative, interdisciplinary, and integrative science gives us the best picture of an issue of interest,” she says.

The lab opened in 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant that she and her colleagues had to create new ways to do rigorous research and communicate with each other. But she says that the pandemic has renewed a culture of working together within the scientific community, reminding scientists of the importance of their research to society at large.

“We can do more with our powers combined than on our own,” says Marlin. “Fostering these connections and diversity of perspective are what enable us to be bolder, dream bigger, and tackle the greatest human health challenges we face today.”

As a Black woman and scientist, Marlin recognizes the importance of speaking up about her experiences in the scientific field – where women and people of color are fewer in number – in order to encourage a more diverse, inclusive landscape.

“At the end of the day, science is collaborative,” she says. “You need people in your community who can mentor, guide and advocate for you.”