Biological entities are extremely plastic, i.e. they manage to adapt their phenotype in response to environmental and physiological cues. The cellular mechanisms enabling this phenotypic plasticity are studied by the discipline of Epigenetics.
“Epigenetics” describes all heritable phenotypic alterations which are not due to changes in the primary DNA sequence. “Epigenomics” refers to genome-wide studies of epigenetic alterations. The advent of numerous epigenetic and epigenomic strategies has emerged to comprehensively investigate DNA methylation variations and chromatin modifications across the genome – two mechanisms that are at the core of epigenomic research.
With the creation of the Human Epigenome Project, many research groups have joined forces to further elucidate and exploit new technologies to better understand the basis of normal development and human disease. Emerging evidence suggests that epigenetic and epigenomic alterations are key drivers of disease initiation and progression for many complex diseases including cancer. Epigenetic treatment options and epigenetic tests are likely to be used in the near future to develop personalised therapies. Diagnostic products based on epigenetic changes have been approved as biomarkers by regulatory agencies and many more are under development, and several epigenetic treatments are being tested in clinical trials.
Epigenomics provides the forum to address the rapidly progressing research developments in this ever-expanding field; to report on the major challenges ahead and critical advances that are propelling the science forward. The journal delivers this information in concise, at-a-glance article formats – invaluable to a time-constrained community.
Substantial developments in our current knowledge and understanding of genomics and epigenetics are constantly being made. In recent years, Epigenomics has responded to the widening of the research focus from solely DNA methylation and cancer to non-coding RNAs, bioinformatics, neuroepigenetics, immunoepigenetics, in utero environment/pre- and peri-natal environment, pollutants and other environmental stressors, behavioural epigenetics, and much more.
Epigenomics provides a critical overview of the latest and most significant advances as they unfold and explores their potential application in the clinical setting.
Articles published in Epigenomics cover key areas such as:
• Bioinformatic technologies in epigenomics
• Genome-wide epigenetic analyses
• Cancer epigenetics
• Chromatin remodeling
• Cutting-edge epigenomic techniques & tools
• Data analysis, algorithms, statistics and computational approaches
• Diagnosis and prognosis in human disease
• Environmental epigenetics
• Epigenetic mechanisms
• Genomic imprinting
• Population-scale epigenetic studies
• Therapeutic applications of epigenetics
• Personalised epigenetic approaches
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