Epigenetics specialists plan to edit the 'book of life'

The Washington Post weighs in today with a detailed look at the surge of new research work that is going into epigenetics, a field that has already spawned a string of new biotechs and promises to deliver many more.

To illustrate the potential of epigenetics, the Post introduces us to two mice with identical DNA. One is brown and healthy while the other is yellow, obese and suffering from diabetes. Both live in the lab of Duke University's Randy Jirtle, who manipulated the epigenome that can either turn on or shut down a gene. Jirtle sees epigenetics playing the role of software, which is required to tell the body's genome hardware what to do.

The NIH is already a big believer in the field. It has earmarked $190 million to fund new research work in epigenetics. And it's targeting a wide array of specialties, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, asthma, kidney disease, glaucoma, muscular dystrophy and more.

"I've got goose bumps right now talking about it," Jirtle tells the Post. "You're looking at the book of life, how it's read and how you can change it."

- check out the Post story   

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