Deniz Främke

External LIFE Fellow since 2023, MPI for Human Development

My academic trajectory includes a B.Sc. In Psychology at the University of Hamburg and a Research Master in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience in Maastricht. My path was guided by my strong interest on how interindividual differences in cognitive abilities and neuronal or molecular correlates are associated with environmental factors. Therefore I joined the Max Planck Research Group Biosocial - Biology, Social Disparities, and Development after finishing my masters thesis.
In my doctoral work, I am exploring how cognitive development and educational attainments are influenced by the synergistic interplay between genetic variation and childhood socioeconomic inequalities. Applying my strong background in psychological data science, I will rely on large cohort data sets that include genetic and epigenetic information (e.g., German Socioeconomic Panel, TwinLife, or the Texas Twin Project). By incorporating new genomic tools like polygenic scores and DNA-Methylation profiles into classical developmental methods I want to inform human development and reveal pathways of the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic inequalities.

Publications

Willems, Y. E., deSteiguer, A., Tanksley, P. T., Vinnik, L., Fraemke, D., Okbay, A., Richter, D., Wagner, G. G., Hertwig, R., Koellinger, P., Tucker-Drob, E. M., Harden, K. P., & Raffington, L. (2024). Self-control is associated with health-relevant disparities in buccal DNA-methylation measures of biological aging in older adults. Clinical Epigenetics, 16, Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-024-01637-7