A new longitudinal study of more than 500 adolescents led by researchers at King’s College London shows that changes in DNA methylation across the teenage years are linked to brain development and to rising depressive symptoms, cannabis use and binge drinking, pointing to a potential biological pathway connecting experience, brain maturation and mental health.

Summary

Adolescence is a crucial period for brain development, but we still know relatively little about how biological changes in the body relate to mental health during these years. In this study published in Molecular Psychiatry, researchers analysed blood samples and brain MRI scans from 506 young people at ages 14 and 19, examining more than 372,000 DNA methylation sites across the genome. They identified 18 groups of DNA changes that shifted together over time, including 10 linked to genes involved in brain development and signalling. The study found that these molecular changes were tied to coordinated changes in brain regions involved in emotion, motivation and reward. Young people with greater increases in depressive symptoms, cannabis use and binge drinking also showed greater DNA methylation changes and greater cortical thinning in this brain network. The findings suggest that DNA methylation may help explain how adolescent experiences and behaviours become biologically embedded and linked to brain development and mental health risk.

Three key take-home messages

1. The teenage years leave a measurable biological signature.
   The study mapped coordinated DNA methylation changes across adolescence and showed that these patterns are stable, biologically meaningful, and reproducible across datasets.
2. These DNA changes are linked to how the brain matures.
   Changes in DNA methylation tracked with structural changes in brain systems involved in cognitive control, emotion and reward, especially along fronto-limbic-striatal pathways.
3. DNA methylation may be one pathway linking experience to mental health risk.
   Increases in depressive symptoms, cannabis use and binge drinking were associated with stronger DNA methylation changes and greater cortical thinning, with mediation analyses suggesting DNA methylation may help bridge behaviour and brain change.

A quote from the senior author:

“Adolescence is a critical window for brain development, and our findings show that DNA methylation changes are linked to brain maturation and emerging mental health symptoms over time. To really understand how environmental and developmental influences shape mental health, we now need more longitudinal studies that track molecular and brain changes together across development. This will be essential for identifying earlier markers of vulnerability and new opportunities for prevention.”

The submission deadline for the EBRAINS 10-Year Roadmap 2026–2036 has been extended to 15 March 2026 (23:59 CET). This is the final deadline.

EBRAINS is inviting researchers, clinicians, and technology experts to help shape the next decade of digital neuroscience in Europe. Proposals can address scientific priorities, unmet needs in tools or data, new technologies, or other strategic activities aligned with the EBRAINS mission. Submissions should be 2–10 pages in English using the official template.

Accepted contributions will be discussed at the EBRAINS Roadmap Symposium on 21–22 May 2026 in Munich and published in open-access proceedings.

Learn more and submit your proposal

Interested in learning how to use the tools and services available on EBRAINS?

Join us on Thursday, 5 February 2026, for a dedicated webinar showcasing how EBRAINS supports advanced brain modelling and simulation across scales, from detailed single-neuron models to whole-brain, patient-specific simulations.

This webinar will feature presentations by Viktor Jirsa, Chief Science Officer of EBRAINS, and Egidio D’Angelo, Director of the Neurophysiology Unit at the University of Pavia. Together, they will introduce how multiscale brain simulations on EBRAINS enable the integration of data and models across different levels of brain organisation, bridging cellular mechanisms and whole-brain dynamics.

Multiscale simulation is a key step toward mechanistic understanding in neuroscience and medicine. By linking models across spatial and temporal scales, EBRAINS allows researchers to move beyond isolated descriptions toward coherent, predictive frameworks that connect experimental data, theory, and clinical application. This webinar will highlight how such approaches are implemented in practice within the EBRAINS ecosystem. It is aimed at neuroscientists, computational modellers, experimental researchers, clinicians, and early-career scientists interested in multiscale brain simulation. No prior experience with EBRAINS is required.

Practical information

Date: 5 February 2026
Time: 09:00–10:00 (CET)
Register here:
https://ebrains.eu/news-and-events/events/2026/ebrains-webinar-series-multiscale-brain-simulations-in-ebrains-from-the

Agenda

09:00–09:10
Introduction to modelling versus simulation in EBRAINS
Viktor Jirsa

09:10–09:30
Single-neuron-based simulation in EBRAINS
Egidio D’Angelo

09:30–09:50
Virtual brain-based simulation in EBRAINS
Viktor Jirsa

09:50–10:00
Q&A

On 8th – 9th October 2025, the environMENTAL project held a hybrid Summer School on environmental and computational neuroscience, hosted by Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes at Aix-Marseille University.

We had 30 in-person guests and an astounding 19,000 online participants over the two days.

Masterclasses included:

• Integration of geospatial data with health data
• The Virtual Brain Modelling
• Building blocks of The Virtual Brain models
• Simulation and assimilation of the digital human brain
• Rethinking Ethics: Participation and Reflexivity in Big Data Neuroscience
• Advancing innovative interventions for mental disorders using virtual reality and large language models

Thank you to all of our speakers and participants for taking part!

On 7th October 2025, the environMENTAL Consortium had a productive Steering Committee Meeting in Marseille, France. Hosted by consortium partner, INS – Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes at Aix-Marseille University, environMENTAL discussed strategies and directions for:

• Gene environment data infrastructure and discovery (WP1)

• Omics characterisation in deeply phenotyped longitudinal cohorts (WP2)

• Mechanistic investigations and drug discovery (WP7)

• Digital intervention (WP8)

The meeting also included fascinating research presentations from:

• Yunman Xia: Simulation and manipulation in the Digital Twin Brain of a functional brain network underlying mental illness

• Spase Petkoski: Model- and data-driven inference for virtual brains with mental illness

• Marcel Jentsch: CLUES: A Comprehensive Workflow for Integrating Geospatial Data in Biomedical Research

Thanks to all who attended for making the meeting so productive.

Intersectional aspects of climate change
Speaker: Prof. Andreas Heinz
Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Germany

Date: 12 August 2025, 10.00am CET/4.00pm CST

Abstract: Climate change has direct, indirect and intersectional effects on mental health. Direct effects include traumatization by natural disaster. Indirect effects include enforced migration due to loss of agricultural space. Intersexual effects address, the interaction of poverty, sexist and racist and other forms of social exclusion and discrimination. Resources to cope with negative effects of climate change are in equity distributed. For example, heat islands in urban centers often occur in areas that lack green space and access to rivers, which are inhabited by less affluent parts of the population. Neighbourhood studies revealed that local poverty is associated with an increased mental health burden and coincides with increased air pollution and traffic noise, which have been associated with somatic disorders and can further impair mental health. Preventive strategies should not only focus on the individual but also on the community and social levels.

Biography: Andreas Heinz, MD PhD, is a senior professor at the Center for Mental Health at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He was a speaker of the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG) 2023-2025, of the Collaborative Research Grant Transregio 265 2018-2022 and of the German Psychiatry Organization (DGPPH) 2019-2020. He studied medicine, philosophy, and anthropology at the Ruhr Universität Bochum, the Freie Universität Berlin and at Howard University, Washington DC. His work focuses on learning mechanisms in mental disorders effects of social exclusion, and intercultural psychotherapy.