Rana Dajani

Feb 27, 2025 | nature.com | Connie J. Mulligan |Edward Quinn |Christopher J. Dutton |Alexandra M Binder |Catherine Panter-Brick |Rana Dajani | +2 more

Maternal trauma influences infant and adult health outcomes and may impact future generations through epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation (DNAm). Research in humans on the intergenerational epigenetic transmission of trauma effects is limited. In this study, we assessed DNAm signatures of war-related violence by comparing germline, prenatal, and direct exposures to violence across three generations of Syrian refugees. We compared families in which a pregnant grandmother versus a pregnant mother was exposed to violence and included a control group with no exposure to war. We collected buccal swab samples and survey data from mothers and 1–2 children in each of 48 families (n = 131 participants). Based on an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS), we identified differentially methylated regions (DMPs): 14 were associated with germline and 21 with direct exposure to violence. Most DMPs showed the same directionality in DNAm change across germline, prenatal, and direct exposures, suggesting a common epigenetic response to violence. Additionally, we identified epigenetic age acceleration in association with prenatal exposure to violence in children, highlighting the critical period of in utero development. This is the first report of an intergenerational epigenetic signature of violence, which has important implications for understanding the inheritance of trauma.

Nov 17, 2024 | frontiersin.org | Rana Dajani |Kate Zinszer |Yara Ashour |Samer Abuzerr |Amira Shaheen

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip is a deeply entrenched issue marked by repeated cycles of violence and devastation. While the immediate human toll and...

Jan 3, 2024 | devex.com | Anita Makri |Rana Dajani

The world is suffering from multiple challenges that are setting back our collective push to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030 as planned. Most significant today is the ongoing atrocities happening in Gaza. There’s no shortage of recommendations to jump-start progress. But one key ingredient is missing: robust measurement of impact.

Nov 21, 2023 | nature.com | Rana Dajani

CORRESPONDENCE 21 November 2023 Since the onset of the Israel–Hamas war last month, in which more than 10,000 Palestinian civilians have so far been killed, I have been trying to check on fellow Palestinian researchers in Gaza and the West Bank (see R. Dajani et al. Nature 602, 211; 2022). I was able to reach only one of them, who is in the West Bank, because Israel’s siege of Gaza has included cutting off communications.

Oct 24, 2023 | nature.com | Rana Dajani

Almost every country with a significant science base is home to researchers who have immigrated there. The reasons are many: from fleeing war or persecution to simply seeking better opportunities to pursue scientific work. My father, a Palestinian refugee, was one such researcher. After being expelled by force from Jerusalem to Lebanon in 1948, he moved to the United States in 1969 to complete his medical residency as an immunologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. I am one, too.