The Attachment and Neurodevelopment Lab is directed by Dr. Lane Strathearn, a neuroscientist and developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD) at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Our lab explores how early relationships between parents and children shape brain development and long-term well-being. We use tools like brain imaging, semi-structured interviews, genetic and epigenetics testing, and hormone analysis to better understand how parents respond to their children—especially in situations involving stress, substance use, or developmental challenges like autism. Our goal is to support healthy development by learning how strong, nurturing relationships are built from the very beginning.

As the school year is coming to a close, it's time to celebrate our graduating seniors: Mia Dukle, Hiruni Sumanasiri, Klaertje Hesselink, Seren Castellano, Sam Lindgren, Abby McLeod, Aaron Smith, Ellie Wojcikowski, Isaiah Pielak, and Abby Myroth. We are so grateful to have had all of these students work with us, and we cannot wait to see what they do next! 

The overall goal of our lab is to understand the interactions between different environmental factors and microbes using a One Health framework, or the shared health of humans, animal and the environment. The specific project the student will be involved with is investigating farmers' risk factor of tick-borne diseases.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Quick Pitch Challenge: Paige Liebrecht, Christina Yu, and Ella Schlueter! Each undergraduate researcher who presented on April 9th did an outstanding job presenting their research in less than three minutes. We are so proud of how succinctly and clearly these students were able to communicate their work!

Characterizing Alcohol Risk in Development (CARD). The purpose of this research is to better understand factors that can increase or decrease the likelihood that teenagers and young adults will drink alcohol and experience negative consequences from drinking.

We are looking for a reliable and hard-working student who is interested in helping to conduct behavioral studies related to stress vulnerability. Student would expect to learn a wide-range of neurobiology techniques including involvement in behavioral, molecular, and neurophysiological studies.

The National Geographic Society (NGS) is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for academic researchers and graduate students investigating topics related to geography education in select states and locations. Awards of up to $10,000 (for researchers) and $5,000 (for graduate students) are available to support research projects.

The research project seeks to reveal how humans interpret complex real-world sounds by measuring how their interpretations change (e.g., what made that sound? what did that person say?) as the acoustical structure of the sounds is carefully modified be experimenters.