An ambitious EC-funded research initiative on epigenetics advancing towards systems biology

University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Epigenetic mechanisms in the development of metabolic diseases

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Our group is focused on the analysis of the epigenetic mechanisms implied in the development of metabolic diseases and how nutrients and the metabolic state (i.e. inflammation, oxidative stress, hypoxia, hyperlipidemia) during the curse of these syndromes could shape the epigenome. For this purpose, we have experimental models from human beings (obesity, stroke, metabolic syndrome), rodents (nutritional and physiological models at different life stages), and cell cultures (hepatocytes, neurons, adipocytes). In this context, our current goal is to investigate the mechanisms underlying the epigenetic dysregulation caused by hormones and nutrients on gene expression (i.e. fatty acids on HepG2 cells). Different techniques will be used in parallel, such as ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, DNA methylation assessment and PAR-CLIP together with systematic and quantitative epigenetic data integration in order to obtain an insight on the dynamic state of chromatin.