Category Archives: Epigenetics

The Epigenetics-Based Kits Market research report systematicallyexplains each and every aspect related to the Global Epigenetics-Based Kits Market, which facilitates the reports reader to study and evaluate the upcoming market trend and execute the analytical data to promote the business.

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The growth trend forecasted on account of a thorough examination offers in-depth information regarding the Epigenetics-Based Kits Market. This global market report offers research and consulting services focused on achieving competitive leverage, with acquiring and preserving market position as key aims of the program.

Epigenetics-based kits market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to grow at a CAGR of 12.90% in the above-mentioned forecast period.

Key Market Competitors Covered in the report:

Zymo Research; Active Motif, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.; Promega Corporation; New England Biolabs; Agilent Technologies, Inc.; PerkinElmer Inc.; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.; Shivom Ventures Limited; AsisChem Inc.; Enzo Life Sciences, Inc.; EpiGentek Group Inc.; BioVision Inc.; GeneTex, Inc. among others.(Customization Available)

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The Epigenetics-Based Kits report also demonstrates the scope of the various commercial possibilities over the coming years and the positive revenue forecasts in the years ahead. It also studies the key markets and mentions the various regions i.e. the geographical spread of the industry.

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The key players dominate the operations in the industry attributable to their strong geographical reach and huge production facilities. Players operating in this market are in intense competition in terms of technology, product development, innovation, and product pricing. To gain a competitive advantage over the other players in the Solvent Distillation Units industry, the leading players are focusing more on offering products at rational prices.

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Table Of Contents

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope of the Report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Market Landscape

Part 05: Pipeline Analysis

Part 06: Market Sizing

Part 07: Five Forces Analysis

Part 08: Market Segmentation

Part 09: Customer Landscape

Part 10: Regional Landscape

Part 11: Decision Framework

Part 12: Drivers and Challenges

Part 13: Market Trends

Part 14: Vendor Landscape

Part 15: Vendor Analysis

Part 16: Appendix

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Epigenetics-Based Kits Market To Witness High Growth In Near Future IMIESA - IMIESA

NEW YORK LXRepair and Gustave Roussy on Thursday said they have launched a joint laboratory to advance personalized cancer radiotherapy.

The new lab, dubbed Radio Care, will focus on advancing LXRepair's functional response prediction assays, which use DNA repair signals from blood or tumor samples to predict radiotherapy toxicity and patient responses. The biotech and cancer center, both in France, received funding from the country's National Research Agency's LABCOM program to launch the lab.

Within the partnership, Paris-based Gustave Roussy will contribute its radiotherapy expertise, while Grenoble, France-based LXRepair will utilize its in vitro assay platform. The predictive platform assesses functional signatures of DNA repair biomarkers in patients' blood and tumor samples using a biochip containing damaged DNA. Fluorescence analysis then reveals the interactions that occur at each damage site when the DNA repair enzymes from the patients' samples encounter the DNA on the chip. By analyzing the reactions, LXRepair claims its assay can characterize the efficiency and accuracy of patients' DNA repair mechanisms and predict their treatment response.

According to the firm, this approach is more "relevant and actionable" than genomic DNA repair assays, in part because it considers all possible molecular regulation, including epigenetics, transcription, and pathway reactivation, among other factors. It is developing the test to predict patients' responses to chemotherapy as well as radiation.

The firm is currently evaluating its functional assay prediction approach in several clinical studies, including one exploring biomarkers of radiotoxicity and another prospective trial focused on identifying biomarkers of radio-chemotoxicity and radio-chemoresistance among head and neck cancer patients.

LXRepair's tests are in the clinical validation phase for breast and prostate cancers, and one of the goals of the Radio Care lab's research will be to expand this approach to other tumor types.

"Making our assays available to oncologists for the global monitoring of a set of enzymatic biomarkers of DNA repair from a blood sample meets an important medical need," LXRepair President and CSO Sylvie Sauvaigo, said in a statement. "We have reached a turning point in the quest of radiotherapy personalization Radio Care is a unique opportunity to accelerate the shift to personalized radiotherapy and is a great honor."

Read more:
LXRepair, Gustave Roussy Ink Research Partnership in Personalized Radiotherapy - Precision Oncology News

Identical twins are a scientific enigma: No one knows why a fertilized human egg will sometimes split into two genetically identical embryosbut new research suggests that epigenetics have something to do with it.

Epigenetics is the study of how genes turn on or off depending on a persons behaviors and environment. Geneticists know that fraternal twins run in families, which suggests something in our DNA makes some people more likely to birth fraternal twins than others. But since identical twins happen more randomly, theres likely no genetic component.

To investigate whether epigenetics play a role in identical twin development, an international team of researchers analyzed the genomes of more than 6,000 individuals around the world, including identical twins, fraternal twins, and non-twin family members. They looked at 450,000 sites across their DNA to identify patterns of epigenetic differences, and found that identical twins had the same signature DNA tags at 834 points. This pattern was so consistent that an algorithm the team designed to look for those markers can reliably identify whether someone is an identical twin with up to 80 percent accuracy. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

You could think about these chemical epigenetic tags on DNA as molecular scars, said Baylor College of Medicine epigeneticist Robert Waterland to Science News. Waterland was not involved in the study, but he thinks its likely that the epigenetic markers are byproducts of the twin-splitting process.

[Related: These Australian twins are the second semi-identical pair ever reported]

That said, more work needs to be done. While it is possible that the DNA tags are a result of identical twinning, another theory is that it plays some role in causing it.

Why and how identical twins exist is really a mystery in developmental biology, senior author and biological psychologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Dorret Boomsma, told Livescience.

About 12 percent of all human pregnancies begin as multiple pregnancies, but less than 2 percent actually yield birthed twins. The remaining 98 percent result in a vanishing twin, when one twin is miscarried and reabsorbed, according to a 1990 report in the International Journal of Fertility and Sterility. Sometimes that twin appears in an ultrasound before vanishing, but other times parents have no idea that they ever carried multiple embryos.

Analyzing peoples epigenomes and looking at their DNA tags could show whether or not someone had a vanished twin, which opens up a lot of avenues of inquiry, said Nancy Segal, a developmental psychologist at California State University at Fullerton who was not involved in the study, to Science News.

Identical twins are more likely to experience conditions like spina bifida, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, and even left-handedness. Perhaps non-twins with these conditions stem from actually being an unknown identical twin, Segal said.

To properly determine whether the epigenetic changes are a cause or effect of an egg splitting in two will require experimenting with embryos and stem cells in the lab, and observing how development changes under different conditions, according to Deakin University twin researcher Jeffrey Craig in an interview with Science. But for now, the true confirmed cause of identical twinship is yet unknown.

More:
Epigenetics could reveal if you had a 'vanishing twin' - Popular Science

J. Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D.PORTLAND, Maine Van Andel Institutes J. Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D., and Maine Medical Center Research Institutes Joseph Nadeau, Ph.D., have earned a five-year, $9.6 million Transformative Research Award from the National Institutes of Health to answer a set of questions that could fundamentally transform our understanding of health and disease: If you were born multiple times under the exact same circumstances, would you turn out to be the same person each time? And if not, what implications could the differences have for your health?

Although it may sound like science fiction, the answers could revolutionize our understanding of how probabilistic variation influences health before birth and throughout life and provide insights into new strategies for combating cancer, obesity and a host of other health concerns and diseases.

This groundbreaking research is made possible by a Transformative Research Award, part of the NIH Common Funds High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. The award promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches to projects that have potential to create new paradigms or challenge existing ones, according to NIH.

Joseph Nadeau, Ph.D.In some ways, our health is like a game of dice in which chance, or variation, plays a major role. We want to understand exactly how variation defines our health and how we can leverage it to combat disease, Pospisilik said. As scientists, were trained to see variation as error, but we believe that it is actually a necessary and vital biological regulatory process. We are grateful to the National Institutes of Health Common Fund for its support of this exciting project. These high-risk, high-reward funding mechanisms from the NIH are a rare opportunity to peek into the unknown to remind ourselves how little we actually know.

Variation is built into every species on earth and is thought to promote resilience against threats such as disease and environmental shifts. However, the genetic and epigenetic regulators that control variation have been difficult to identify and even more challenging to directly link to clinical outcomes.

Our genes and our environment are just 50% of what makes us who we are, Nadeau said. We want to understand what that other 50% is so that someday we may be able to predict whether early medical interventions or lifestyle changes could improve our chances for a healthy life.

Now, thanks to advances in technology and technique, Pospisilik, Nadeau and their collaborators will be able to detect and analyze the genetic and epigenetic factors that control variation patterns and link them to their effects.

To do so, they will leverage tools created by Nadeau and MMCRIs Christine Lary, Ph.D., (also a collaborator on the award) that allow scientists to identify molecular regulators of variation. Another team at VAI, led by Tim Triche, Jr., Ph.D., will support this effort to push current methodologies beyond their current limitations. Finally, teams lead by Ruth Loos, Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, David Carey, Ph.D., of Weis Center for Research at Geisinger, Neerja Karnani, Ph.D., of Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and Peter Gluckman, MBChB, MMedSc, M.D., FRS, of Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and University of Auckland will help place Pospisilik and Nadeaus novel discoveries into real-world, clinical context.By the end of the study, the team hopes to identify new sets of disease-related genes, delineate subtypes of disease, and better understand how the complex interaction between genetics and epigenetics impacts health.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under award no.1R01HG012444 (Pospisilik and Nadeau). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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ABOUT MAINE MEDICAL CENTER Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2021-2022, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the states largest medical center, licensed for 637 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is part of the MaineHealthsystem, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit http://www.mmc.org.ABOUT VAN ANDEL INSTITUTEVan Andel Institute (VAI) is committed to improving the health and enhancing the lives of current and future generations through cutting edge biomedical research and innovative educational offerings. Established in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1996 by the Van Andel family, VAI is now home to nearly 500 scientists, educators and support staff, who work with a growing number of national and international collaborators to foster discovery. The Institutes scientists study the origins of cancer, Parkinsons and other diseases and translate their findings into breakthrough prevention and treatment strategies. Our educators develop inquiry-based approaches for K-12 education to help students and teachers prepare the next generation of problem-solvers, while our Graduate School offers a rigorous, research-intensive Ph.D. program in molecular and cellular biology. Learn more at vai.org.

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Van Andel Institute, Maine Medical Center Research Institute scientists earn $9.6 million Transformative Research Award from National Institutes of...

Epigenetics is like a symphony conductor, who with just a gesture of the baton, conveys the message ... [+] to quiet the strings while turning up the horns. The symphony as a whole remains intact, but the sound changes entirely.

For all the hype, fear and misinformation that surrounds the application of gene editing, there is an equally powerful technology that offers much the same in potential benefit. This technology, epigenetics, is a natural process that has gone largely unremarked by consumers.

Yet epigenetics is introducing incredible promise in the search for ways to deliver sustainable food to a growing population on a planet increasing challenged by climate change.

Its time for an examination of epigenetics and the opportunities it brings, in contrast to GMO and gene editing technologies. The overall epigenetics market is projected to grow to a$35 billion market by 2028, largely on the basis of human health products in diagnosis and treatment. Yet the application of epigenetics to crop enhancement, animal health and aquaculture may be closer to fruition. Lets explore what we see as significant (if underappreciated) opportunities.

A simple explanation of epigenetics

Lets start with genetics, the study of genes, the DNA code containing the instructions to cells to create the many functions of the organism. The human genome contains about 3 billion base pairs of DNA the code that makes each person unique. This DNA code resides in every cell, essentially the same code in every cell in your body.

Epigenetics explains how the same DNA code can guide some cells to behave differently from others. Epigenetics studies the chemical compounds and proteins that can attach to DNA and direct the actions to turn a specific gene on or off expressing or silencing a gene.

Think of a symphony orchestra. Epigenetics would be the conductor, who with just a gesture of the baton, conveys the message to quiet the strings while turning up the horns. The symphony as a whole remains intact, but the sound changes entirely.

The term was coined in the mid-twentieth century by British biologist Conrad Waddington, who used it to describe the way cells gradually take on more specialized roles during the development of an embryo how some cells become blood, others bone and still others turn into nerves, for example. The prefix epi comes from the Greek and means on top of or above. So in this word,epigenetic, it describes the factors beyond the code that regulate the activity of the cells.

But importantly, throughout epigenetic changes, the DNA sequence never changes.

In Nobel-prize winner Paul Nurses new book,What is Life? Five Great Ideas in Biology, he explains epigenetics as the set of chemical reactions that cells use to turn genes either on or off in fairly enduring ways. As part of his chapter on Life as Information, he continues: These epigenetic processes do not change the DNA sequence of the genes themselves; instead, they often work by adding chemical tags to the DNA, or to the proteins that bind to that DNA. This creates patterns of gene activity that can persist through the lifespan of a cell and sometimes even longer, through many cell divisions.

Epigenetic changes are especially important because they are naturally occurring and happen continuously. Epigenetics is different from gene editing, which makes an irreversible alteration in DNA sequence by removing or inserting DNA. In some cases, like in a GMO or genetically modified organism, DNA from another source may be added. But epigenetic changes do not alter DNA and can happen in a reversible way, although some epigenetic changes can persist into later generations.

A new tool

In recent decades, weve learned about other factors that influence epigenetic switches, such as age, behavior, and environment, for example. Additionally, now we know the chemical processes that can turn a specific gene on or off DNA methylation, histone modification, acetone methylation and RNA interference or RNAi are the most common.

A particular breakthrough occurred whenDr. Sally Mackenzie, professor at Penn State University, found a plant gene, MSH1, that can trigger a plant to behave as though it is under stress. The reprogrammed plant invokes the mechanisms to manage its growth, producing greater resilience. When these epigenetically impacted plants are bred or grafted, their offspring produce higher yields and greater resiliency too.

Dr. Mackenzies findingsbecame the basis for the companyEpicrop Technologies Inc., which is one of the companies in which my firm, TechAccel, has invested. Our relationship with Epicrop has produced two subsidiaries that are advancing Dr. Mackenzies method to produce reprogrammed canola and berry crops with higher yields and greater resiliency. (More about this later.)

Why now

The introduction of CRISPR and other gene editing tools opened new opportunities for breeding and trait selection, fueled by the rapid development of ultra-high throughput sequencing technologies and their sharply declining costs. These same technologies support the blossoming study of the epigenome. With each new advance, we come closer to understanding the on-off switches in the genome that can increase yield, combat stress, enhance flavor or nutrition, retard spoiling or aging, and influence many more characteristics.

The use of epigenetics has become more popular for another reason: the friendlier regulatory environment. Since epigenetic changes occur continually, naturally, there is a lesser role for regulatory oversight than in gene-edited or GMO products. The epigenetic process doesnt change the genetic code, the only engineering is the method to induce a gene to switch on or off.

And there are advances in applying epigenetic inducements in an accelerated way, vastly faster than conventional cross-breeding techniques.Sound Agriculture, for example, has a novel and relatively simple oligonucleotide-based strategy for epigenetically silencing individual genes. (Sound Ag is another of TechAccels select investments and a partner in proof-of-concept studies in grape.)

New frontiers for epigenetics

The combination of advancing new methods of activating or silencing genes, the availability of high-speed sequencing for phenotypic analysis, and the likelihood of a simpler regulatory route to market are all factors that make epigenetics so promising.

Beyond that, there is a wide horizon of opportunity, with work underway in many fields for social and environmental benefit:

Agriculture:Significant advances have already been achieved in understanding how to use epigenetic modifications to improve a plants resistance to pathogens and stress, making it more able to adapt to heat and drought. RNAi, which Ivepreviously discussed, has been successfully applied to increase protein content, suppress starches, increase flavonoids and confer pesticidal benefits.

Behind the sunflowers, a field of epigenetically enhanced canola grows in field trials in North ... [+] Dakota.

In our own epigenetics programs, we are focused on two crops: the strawberry, which is notoriously vulnerable to soil-borne pathogens and limited in environmental range, and canola. In the strawberry, epigenetic breeding with selection for environmental stability, enhanced disease resistance and additional phenotypes is an attractive non-GMO alternative to enhance complex traits. In canola, a crop of growing importance (global demand estimated to reach 250 million tons by 2025, up from 150 million in 2015), we focus on improving yield.

Aquaculture:Research is exploring methods of using epigenetics toconfer heat tolerance to coral reefs, as well as improving feed andselecting traits for adaptation to pathogens, disease and impacts of climate change. The idea is totailor the fishto its aquaculture environments, and so maximize commercial production in a safe, effective and sustainable way.

Animal health:Livestock nutrition is an emerging area for epigenetic research, examining ways to help animals increase their nutrient uptake or better process feeds. Additionally, the entire application of epigenetics to inducing desired traits is an important area of discovery. As noted in a recentFrontiers journal article, Epigenetics is also attractive for animal breeding because it may help identifying part of the missing causality and missing heritability of complex traits and diseases.

In addition to these research areas, applications from human health in precision nutrition and personalized medications, monitoring of disease, and therapeutic treatments (epidrugs) will almost certainly be modeled for other plant and animal species.

This is why epigenetics advances deserve more attention, from researchers, investors and consumers alike. Its worth educating consumers on the opportunities of epigenetics as a tool to build resiliency in the face of climate change. Its up to us to use all available tools to improve our food supplies in ways that nourish, sustain and protect our planet. The race is on.

Link:
Epigenetics: Conducting The Symphony Of Genetics - Forbes

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VolitionRX Ltd (NYSE: VNRX) fell to close at $3.31 Tuesday after losing $0.04 (1.19%) on volume of 81,125 shares. The stock ranged from a high of $3.40 to a low of $3.28 while VolitionRXs market cap now stands at $175,074,880.

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company developing simple, easy to use, costeffective blood tests to help diagnose a range of cancers and other diseases. Early diagnosis has the potential to not only prolong the life of patients, but also to improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of NucleosomicsTM, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present. Volition is primarily focused on human diagnostics but also has a subsidiary focused on animal diagnostics.

Visit VolitionRX Ltds profile for more information.

The New York Stock Exchange is the worlds largest stock exchange by market value at over $26 trillion. It is also the leader for initial public offerings, with $82 billion raised in 2020, including six of the seven largest technology deals. 63% of SPAC proceeds in 2020 were raised on the NYSE, including the six largest transactions.

To get more information on VolitionRX Ltd and to follow the companys latest updates, you can visit the companys profile page here: VolitionRX Ltds Profile. For more news on the financial markets be sure to visit Equities News. Also, dont forget to sign-up for the Daily Fix to receive the best stories to your inbox 5 days a week.

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VolitionRX (VNRX) falls 1.19% in Light Trading on August 3 - Equities.com

NEW YORK In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Luminex said it became a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of DiaSorin,and the previously announced merger of the companies has been completed.

DiaSorin announced in a separate statement thatit completed the acquisition for a price of $37 per share, or a total equity value of approximately $1.8 billion. The acquisition gives it access to Luminexs multiplexing technology, a portfolio that will strengthen its current offeringand expand its presence in the US, DiaSorin said.

Cue Health said this week that its Cue COVID-19 Test Kit has received regulatory approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for professional point-of-care use in India. The molecular test provides results within 20 minutes and connects to smartphones to report results. The test can also detect emerging variants, Cue said in a statement.

Avacta Life Sciences said this week that its diagnostics division has obtained ISO 13485 certification for the quality management system for the manufacture and distribution of its Affimer reagents for use in lateral flow, ELISA, and immunodiagnostic in vitro diagnostic devices. The ISO standard defines the requirements for quality management for a developer and legal manufacturer of diagnostic products and medical devices. Avacta said the certification provides a practical foundation for addressing regulatory requirements and ensures the safety of its products. The certification also means that a CE mark for the AffiDx SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test can be transferred to Avacta from its partner Mologic, Avacta added.

The Pandemic Response Lab and Brio this week announced they are partnering to offer COVID-19 testing and variant surveillance for the entertainment industry. Brio will provide sample collection services, logistics, reporting, advanced software, and support to entertainment facilities. PRL, operated by Opentrons Labworks, will conduct PCR testing and genome sequencing of positive results to track variants. PRL can provide results from PCR testing in six hours or less, the firms said in a statement. Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ott Scientific said this week it is merging its four legacy organizations into one business called Ethos Biosciences. Ethos will operate four product lines and service brands American Bionostica for lateral flow products; Astral Diagnostics for histology and hematology stains and reagents; Exocell for research and clinical nephrology assays; and Astral Rx for pharmaceutical formulations. Ethos will serve the diagnostics market, including healthcare, biotechnology, veterinary, and food and environmental testing. It will operate in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and Logan Township, New Jersey.

The Access to Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Coalition, a group working to expand insurance coverage of broad genomic testing panels for advanced cancer patients, this week announced Strata Oncology as its newest member. Strata offers comprehensive genomic profiling using its StrataNGS panel, and combines patients genomic information with real-world data to provide information doctors can use to make personalized treatment plans. The company also operates a clinical trial platform.

TruDiagnosticsaid this week it has licensed mitotic clock technology from the Van Andel Institute and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Developed by epigenetics researchers at those institutions, the mitotic clock examines how many times a cell has undergone replication, and could be useful in clinical research and personalized medicine applications, TruDiagnosticsaid. For instance, the technology may be able to detect cell senescence, a biomarker for aging; unusually high levels of cell division, which may be a biomarker for cancer or other disease; and stem cell depletion. TruDiagnostic said that it will work with researchers at the Van Andel Institute to further develop the technology.

MedMira, a developer and manufacturer of rapid diagnostic tests, said this week that it has closed a C$500,000 ($396,648) equity investment with a Canadian investor to increase its operational capacity. The equity investment, fully diluted, represents less than 1 percent of its total shareholding. Under the terms of the deal, the investor will acquire 2,711,496 equity units at $0.18444 per unit.

ACT Genomics Holdings said this week that its next generation sequencing-focused operation and laboratory at the Hong Kong Science Park has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists. The new accreditation significantly strengthens the NGS testing services and R&D capacity for the company, which already has CAP-accredited laboratories in Taipei, Taiwan, and Kanagawa, Japan. The 3,500-square-foot Hong Kong laboratory has a dual NGS testing platform from Illumina and Thermo Fisherand is run by a team of eight qualified laboratory technicians, ACT said. Apart from boosting the group's capacity for providing services and support, the three laboratories will continue to pursue research projects, helping ACT develop new products.

In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.

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In Brief This Week: DiaSorin, Cue Health, Avacta, Pandemic Response Lab, TruDiagnostic, and More - 360Dx

5 July 2021

It is becoming clear that our gene functions are influenced by a variety of epigeneticfactors throughout our lives and even before we are conceived. Environmental context may affect gene expression and which genes are 'activated' or not in children conceived via IVFmay be influenced by the dietary and lifestyle habits of an embryo's parents or grandparents, as well as by the culture medium in which eggs and embryos are kept in vitro. These findings have implications for the way we think about fertility, assisted reproduction, and genetic identity.

Epigenetics and bioethics of human embryonic development is a multidisciplinary project that spans disciplinary boundaries in order to better understand how scientists, clinicians, patients, and society should respond to these challenges. The project is funded by the University of Oslo Life Sciences, as part of its convergence environments initiative which has seeninterdisciplinary research groups formed to address major health and environmental challenges faced. The project started in 2017, and is now drawing towards its close. Here, three of our project members explain their work within the project.

Trine Skuland is a developmental biologist who works on epigenetic regulation of early embryo development.

When an egg and a sperm unite to form a zygote, numerous events need to be coordinated in order to achieve successful development. Out of the ~30,000 human genes, the right selection has to be switched on/off at the appropriate time point. No wonder these events are error-prone!

Upon fertilisation, extensive reprogramming happens in order to reset the epigenetic marks of the egg and the sperm DNA, and to set up a new pattern that is compatible with further embryo development. Epigenetic marks are chemical groups that are attached either to the DNA itself or to the proteins the DNA wraps around inside the cell nucleus. The pattern of these epigenetic marks will decide whether genes are activated or silenced.

When an embryo reaches the eight-cell stage, one of the most critical events takes place. This is when the first major set of genes is activated. My team is currently studying one specific epigenetic mark that we think is important for the embryonic genome activation and we hope our research will contribute in further characterisation of epigenetic factors involved in this crucial part of embryo development.

Our aim is to find another piece of the big genome activation puzzle in order to get a more complete picture of what is necessary for normal embryo development. This is as more than half of the embryos created during assisted reproduction develop abnormally and have to be discarded. Our ultimate goal is giving infertile people higher quality embryos to increase their chances of becoming parents.

Birgit Kvernflaten is a medical anthropologist who looks at prospective parents' experiences of assisted reproductive technologies.

My role in the project is to explore prospective parents' experiences and perspectives of practices and treatments used in assisted reproduction.It starts from the idea that their experiences do not take place in a vacuum, but are shaped within a particular socio-cultural and political context. The project further aims to explore and understand prospective parents' experiences and perceptions of the status of the embryo, embryo donation, research, and selection, in light of increased epigenetic knowledge.

This project has highlighted how prospective parents' experiences of infertility treatment are related to and shaped by social and cultural discourses on Norwegian family life.

In Norway, biological or genetic ties are considered central to people's understanding of kinship and identity, shaping couples' negotiations about gamete donation, family, relationships, and responsibilities. Yet people's understanding of genes is also ambiguous. As for the concept of epigenetics; it seems it has not yet entered the public's imagination.

Although the role of environmental factors in shaping who we are is acknowledged in Norwegian society, couples tend to view genetics in a rather deterministic way, in that they believe it shapes both looks, personality, and risk of disease. While difficult to truly grasp, the role of genetics is central to people's ideas about reproduction and parenthood. New epigenetic knowledge raises questions about the interface between nature and nurture, as well as opening up discussion related to the role mothers and their bodies play in determining the health of future offspring.

Joona Rsnenis a bioethicist who works on the philosophical and ethical implications of epigenetics.

Epigenetics raises challenging ethical issues throughout the human life cycle. Epigenetic transmission from one generation to the next may raise questions of moral responsibility of parents and grandparents. Epigenetics plays an important role in a range of chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Our lifestyle habits during pregnancy and even before, may influence whether our future children will live healthy lives or suffer from lifelong illness.

It is commonly known that we should eat healthily for our own sake, but these developments in our understanding of epigenetic could imply that we should eat healthily for the sake of our future children as well. Does this demand too much of future parents?

Epigenetics seems to put prospective parents under pressure since they would be partly responsible for their future child's health even before the child is conceived. Pregnant women are often advised to abstain from alcohol and tobacco, but maybe it is worth reminding them to eat healthily as well and this advice applies not only to future mothers, but to prospective fathers too, since epigenetic inheritance occurs through the male germline as well.

Conclusion

The interplay between science, anthropology, and philosophy in the context of epigenetics is complex.Skuland notes that a key aim for scientists working to unravel the epigenetic mechanisms involved in early embryo development, is to fulfil the needs of IVF patients to have their 'own' child. Dr Kvernflaten shows how genetics is central to patients' ideas about kinship and identity, yet epigenetics is still something unfamiliar to most prospective parents. Rsnen's example suggests that if parents did take on board some of the moral implications of epigenetics, they might find that the scope of their responsibility for future offspring is dramatically expanded.

See the article here:
Epigenetics and bioethics of human embryonic development: a birds' eye perspective - BioNews

SHAERI NAWAR | Published: June 30, 2021 12:56:05

Imagine a twin - Rahim and Karim. One day they visited a festival where Karim got lost and had ever since lived on the roadside. Rahim grew up in a stable normal family household while Karim grew up with less stability, less access to nutritious food and education but more laborious activity.

Forty years later, Rahim unexpectedly found his long lost sibling. More than the reunion with his brother, what shocked Rahim was the fact that his twin brother was not like him. Karim was shorter than him, had a deeper voice and no longer suffered from any genetically inherited disease that they both had in childhood.

As the traits are genetically inherited, Rahim decided to consult a genetic scientist. The scientist studied their genetic code and found that their DNA is exactly the same as it used to be when they were born. However, it turns out that they dont just look different but they actually have become genetically different just by living in different conditions despite having the same genetic codes. This is where epigenetics comes in the picture.

Epigenetics is the study of how the environment influences our genetic makeup. According to the national public health agency of the United States, The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC,) it is the study of how your behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.

An example can help to understand it better. Say, our genome is a paragraph and all of the letters and punctuations would be in the exact same order and give the paragraph a meaning. Now keeping the letters in the same order while shuffling the punctuations would potentially change the message of the paragraph for a reader. Similarly, no cell of the body will be able to read and follow the instructions in the DNA sequence as it results in epigenetic changes. Epigenetics literally means above genetics where a change is evident without a physical change in the DNA sequence.

What causes epigenetic changes?

Diet, physical activity, smoking, environmental pollutants, family relationships, psychological stress, working on night shifts, financial status and many more are the core causes of epigenetic changes.

How epigenetics works

The genetic mechanism of epigenetics is quite complex following a cascade of biological reactions. Nonetheless, a simplified explanation for the curious minds has been presented.

Genes act as the switch that controls everything our body does. Specific genes are there to do specific functions and show specific traits. This genetic switch needs to be turned on or off in order for a gene to work. This turning on/off phenomenon is controlled by a chemical (a methyl group) being added or removed from that gene. This phenomenon is called DNA methylation. For example, a gene that is normally supposed to remain off and if a methyl group is added to turn the gene on, then that could result in epigenetic changes.

The placebo effects

Placebo is a substance or treatment, based on the idea that our brain can convince our body into accepting a fake treatment and thus having a cure somewhat. But have you ever pondered about the mechanism behind it? How does a supposedly fake treatment magically improve health like real ones? Many would answer it happens because we are conditioned to think that we are getting treated which is partially correct.

Our thoughts influence the level of our hormones which run some of the brain functions. The brain sends signals to the cell to function in a certain way. The cell signals to switch a gene on or off to carry the cellular function. As a result, it all comes down to the regulation of the genetic switch. The bottom line is that our mind-body connection is reinforced by epigenetics.

For instance, the genome is the actual hardware of the computer (your body), then epigenome is more like the software which tells the hardware what to do even though the genome is going to do all the work. The fact is that you can influence your genetic expression.

Interestingly, epigenetic characteristics are passed on to children from parents as well. If somebody is a chain smoker, thats bad for the individual but it is thought that he wouldnt necessarily be harming his unborn child in any measurable way. However, this idea is changing pretty rapidly because some of the epigenetic information get stuck on the genomes and are passed from generation to generation. So, if you are a chain smoker, chances are your kids would have more affinity towards smoking than a non-smokers kid.

Epigenetic anomalies

Over the last few decades, numerous scientific studies have been conducted to decode the science behind male infertility. As a matter of fact, the valid cause behind the mechanism of more than 50 per cent of male infertility cases is unknown. Owing to this concern, a number of studies have been conducted, which have inferred that the abnormal methylation of the sperm is highly correlated with male infertility.

Also, epigenetic changes are now considered as one of the hallmarks of many cancers. Disruption of epigenetic processes can lead to altered gene function and transform cells causing malignancies and cancer.

However, as the old saying goes, the cure lies in the problem. Epigenetics both causes and cures cancer. In a study published in the Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology, it has been found that methylation that takes place in tissues and that is non-cancerous acts as a signal to identify the risk of tumour formation. So, this is emerging as a target for cancer prevention.

Epigenetic drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved seven epigenetic drugs for the treatment of haematological malignancies or cancer. Some of these drugs have been acquired from the enzymes that function during epigenetic occurrences.

All in all, from being the cause of some potential diseases and cure of some, epigenetics has enormous advantages. It gives one the power to shape oneself and as a matter of fact, soon epigenetics would be the personalised healthcare tool for individuals.

Shaeri Nawar is a life science researcher. He is currently a research fellow at Asian Network for Research on Antidiabetic Plants (ANRAP). E-mail: [emailprotected]

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Epigenetics The spirituality of genetics - The Financial Express

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