Epigenetics is the term used to describe the field of science which is trying to interpret how all the information generated after finally mapping the human genome is actually used in real life.

Having all the genetic information is only the first step – we now need to understand how cells make sense of the DNA codes they are given to make them a particular cell with a particular job for life, and what prompts them to keep functioning normally and generate replicas of themselves.

Understanding exactly how particular types of cells translate their instructions from one universal DNA code, and how this information gets used by the cells to determine how a human body is made and functions is commonly known as the post genome challenge. This is the next piece of the jigsaw from knowing what the basic outline ‘instructions’ to build a human are, which we now know from the genome.

Professor Amanda Fisher of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith, and Professor Wendy Bickmore at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, are leading the Consortia’s Public Sciences Activities, which aim to disseminate knowledge and stimulate discussion on issues raised by advances in epigenetic research. Epigenome will involve the following ‘Public Science’ activities:

-- Public Science web site

-- Training courses for non-specialists in genetics/development, school visits, open days, contribution to local Science Festivals, radio and TV. This will specifically include a show on “cell fate”, developed primarily for the Edinburgh Science Festival (aimed at a teenage audience) by members from the MRC HGU, to then tour schools in Scotland, London and Heidelberg within the first 12 months of the grant.

-- Europe-wide talks and discussion of science/medicine/ethics via the ‘Café Scientifique’. This initiative will be expanded by the PSO, to include venues for Vienna, Amsterdam and Munich/Heidelberg, within the first 12 months of the grant. Network members will be invited to make presentations at the previously established CS in London, Paris and Geneva within this period.

-- A project linking Science and Art will begin at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London. This will explore how genomic and epigenetic information shapes life, and could for example include the topics of ‘risk’ and ‘cultural attitudes to life and its origins’. This will be explored through debate, theater and alternative forms of media.

Professor Fisher said:

“The Network brings together scientists from many disciplines that are tackling this question at different levels to pool expertise, resources and knowledge in a real push to accelerate our understanding of the genetic blueprint. This will help us translate knowledge about the mechanics of the human body and its processes into new ways to understand health and disease.”

“This exciting collaboration will help us understand how, despite having the same DNA, cells receive their different instructions to fulfil their own unique jobs and to continue to replenish and divide ensuring the imprinted memory of what they are meant to do gets passed from one generation of cells to another. This all relates to what genes are switched ‘on’ or ‘off’ at any given time. If there is a fault and a cell loses its ‘memory’ of what function it is supposed to do then it isn’t passed on to the new cells at replication, and there is a trigger for disease.

“Knowing more about these processes is what helps scientists turn knowledge into new ideas about preventing and treating disease, so it’s a great challenge to be part of this team trying to piece together this crucial information.”

Professor Neil Brockdorff based at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre makes up the rest of the MRC team contributing to this European venture.

Medical Research Council

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