Lyndsey Shorey-Kendrick is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Neuroscience at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.  Dr. Shorey-Kendrick completed a Ph.D. in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University, in 2012, with a specific interest in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).  In 2012, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Eliot Spindel as a Postdoctoral Researcher, where she studied the role of a common genetic polymorphism in the alpha5 nicotinic receptor in relation to the effect of maternal smoking on infant lung function.  In 2019, Dr. Shorey-Kendrick was promoted to her current position as Research Assistant Professor, and in the same year named Associate Director of the Colony Genetics Core at ONPRC. 

A major focus of Dr. Shorey-Kendrick’s research is to study the molecular pathways that contribute to effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) on lung development and lung function.   This is specifically being pursued using epigenome-wide DNA methylation profiling and RNA-sequencing in samples collected from a multi-center randomized clinical trial, led by OHSU neonatologist Dr. Cindy McEvoy, which demonstrated that vitamin C supplementation to pregnant smokers improves infant lung function. 

Key goals of this research are to integrate these ‘omics datasets across tissues and longitudinally and to develop novel DNA methylation biomarkers of prenatal exposure to maternal smoking, and of related health outcomes and resiliency. Dr. Shorey-Kendrick is working in collaboration with the NIH Environmental Childhood Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium of investigators in the development and application of these biomarker tools, with the overall goal of improving childhood health outcomes.