Gene environment interplay: nonhuman primate models in the study of resilience and vulnerability

Identifying how individual differences in risk for disease emerge is a major target for biomedical research. In many cases, however, the most lightly traversed avenues of this type of basic and clinical research are those that begin with a focus on early development. It appears likely that early influences may be pivotal in lifetime risk of disease and other adverse outcomes. Nonetheless, understanding the constellation of interacting biological, experiential, social factors that influence this risk has proved a relatively elusive target. Better specification of routes of interplay between these factors, as well as definitions of the mechanisms by which they affect change, are essential goals for numerous research areas. Furthermore, progress towards these goals is unlikely without meaningful integration of diverse disciplines, among them biology and developmental science.