Epigenetic inheritance and parent-of-origin effects

Mon 23 November 2015

Chemistry, Department of

A lecture by Professor Anne Ferguson Smith, Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge

The final talk in a series of lectures organised by the Cambridge Philosophical Society in the Michaelmas Term 2015.

Abstract: What is epigenetic inheritance and why is it important? Epigenetics means ‘above’ or ‘on top of’ genetics. In biology and biomedical science today, it is a term used to describe chemical modifications to our DNA and to our chromosomes that mark our genetic material and affect both how our DNA is packaged into chromosomes and how our genes are regulated. In the different cells in our body, these marks change during development and during disease, but also they can be stably inherited from one cellular generation to the next to maintain the specific chromosome states. So, can these marks also be transmitted from one generation to the next and what might be the impact of this? In this presentation, I will discuss the relationship between the genome and the epigenome, present some paradigms that have shed light on the function of epigenetic states and consider some of the unanswered questions that have an impact on the role of epigenetics in health and disease.

Cost: Free