October 23, 2008
Stamatoyannopoulos to head epigenome mapping center
John A. Stamatoyannopoulos, assistant professor of genome sciences and of medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology is head of the new Northwest Reference Epigenome Mapping Center, one of four such centers recently funded with a U01 grant under the $190 million NIH Roadmap for Medical Research Epigenomic Program.
The field of epigenetics seeks to understand the processes that affect gene expression — turning genes on or off — controlling normal growth and development as well as disease progression, and epigenomics is the study of such processes across the entire genome. Epigenetic research promises to improve human health through identification of biomarkers of development and of environmental influences, disease and tissue repair mechanism, and, ultimately, therapeutic targets. The four Reference Epigenome Mapping Centers will create epigenetic profiles of a variety of human cells to serve as a reference for the investigation of genetic susceptibility of disease.
The UW Northwest Reference Epigenome Mapping Center will use innovative high-throughput genomics technologies to create high-resolution atlases of chromatin and DNA methylation patterns in human embryonic stem cells and a wide variety of clinically relevant primary cell types. The center will collaborate with regional and national investigators to study population samples with the aim of identifying epigenomic alterations characteristic of major common human diseases.
Dr. Stamatoyannopoulos is a leading developer of the related NIH ENCODE project (ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements) and holds a $9.7 million grant under that initiative to produce a comprehensive catalogue of regulatory regions of the human genome.
