Low-income students who received a preschool intervention focused on social-emotional development continued to benefit from it during their teen years according to a recent study published in the journal Child Development. The researchers, led by Karen Bierman, Evan Pugh University Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, found that their Head Start Research-based, Developmentally Informed (REDI) intervention improved students’ behavior and mental health during high school.

Researchers identified a novel gene associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and epilepsy. The study leveraged large data depositories, state-of-the-art computational techniques and community-based gene matching to identify this new gene, which is a critical early step in improving diagnosis and eventually developing new treatment methods.