Center for Epigenomics
As we know, the human genome contains three billion letters of G, A, T and C nucleotide bases. Annotating this genome involves mapping these regions and assigning meaning to them — pinpointing which areas regulate genes, control cellular behavior, or are linked to specific diseases. This is the essential next step in understanding some of the most devastating human diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
The epigenome is the collection of all chemical modifications to DNA and chromosomal proteins in each and every cell during its lifespan. In the last two decades, researchers at the UC San Diego Center for Epigenomics have demonstrated that the epigenome provides the crucial information needed to infer the biological activities of the underlying DNA sequences.
By leveraging the rapid advancements of DNA sequencing instruments, we have built robust and cutting-edge technology platforms to map the epigenome in single cells, hundreds of thousands of cells in parallel, and at increasing resolution, scale and efficiency. With our high-throughput technologies, we have already produced single-cell epigenome maps for tens of millions of cells from vital organs across the human body and used the information to annotate more than 30 percent of the human genome.
Supporting the UC San Diego Center for Epigenomics helps accelerate conceptual breakthroughs that could lead to entirely new therapeutic approaches for diseases that have long remained mysterious and difficult to treat.
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