Epigenetics in Pregnancy and Fetal Development Wayne State University School of Medicine

摘要

Wayne State University (WSU) is seeking to establish a Unit devoted to the study of epigenetics in pregnancy and pregnancy complications. The goal of the Unit is to study the effect of environmental factors in inducing epigenetic changes (DNA methylation, histone modification, microRNA, etc.). The first step would be to catalog epigenetic modifications taking into account tissue and cellular specificity. The study of the effect of exposure to microbial products and microorganisms during fetal life in the immune system (adaptive and innate) epigenome is a priority. The Unit is expected to use the tools of epidemiology to identify associations and to move to experimental studies addressing the issues of causation using in-vitro and in-vivo experimentation.