International Human Epigenome Consortium

The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) is a scientific organization, founded in 2010, that helps to coordinate global efforts in the field of Epigenomics.[1][2][3][4] The initial goal was to generate at least 1,000 reference (baseline) human epigenomes from different types of normal and disease-related human cell types.[5][6][7]

Not to be confused with Human Epigenome Project.

Structure and funding

IHEC’s operations are funded by its full members (national and regional scientific funding agencies), and staffed largely on a volunteer basis by scientists and other experts from participating funding agencies and epigenome mapping projects.[8]

Current IHEC Member Countries

In addition, countries and agencies supportive of IHEC goals are organizations that have not yet made a full financial contribution to the project, but whose members provide time and expertise:[22]

Oversight of IHEC is provided by an Executive Committee, whose members are nominated by Full Member organizations.[23] This committee works closely with an International Scientific Steering Committee, whose members are the scientific leaders of participating projects and other leaders in the field of epigenetics, as well as a Data Coordination Center. Additional expertise is contributed by workgroups composed of members of participating research projects.

IHEC interacts and coordinates its efforts with other large-scale international genomics projects, such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC),[24] ENCODE.,[25][26] and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health.[27] Committee and workgroup members, as well as other individuals involved in IHEC, meet annually at an event hosted by member countries on a rotating basis.[28] Most meetings are hosted in conjunction with a scientific symposium, some of which are open to non-IHEC scientists and sometimes members of the public.

Goals

The ultimate objective of IHEC is to determine how the Epigenome has shaped human populations over generations and in response to the environment.[25][29] The first phase of IHEC’s operations involves coordinating the production of at least 1,000 reference epigenomes from healthy and diseased human cells, as well as a limited number of model organisms relevant to specific human diseases. The initial focus is on cellular states including stemness, immortality, proliferation, differentiation, senescence, and stress. The reference epigenome for each sample comprises high resolution maps of DNA methylation and key regulatory histone modifications, with corresponding information about the type and expression level of all transcribed genes (protein coding as well as non-coding / small RNAs).[30] The data produced are made freely available to the research community via the IHEC Data Portal,[31][32] European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA),[33] and other venues.[34][25][35]

In addition, participating research projects are engaged in developing new epigenomics and associated bioinformatics methods.

In November 2016 IHEC members from Canada, the European Union's BLUEPRINT Consortium, the German Epigenome Program “DEEP”, Japan, Singapore, and the United States published a group of 41 coordinated papers in Cell Press and other journals.[36][37][38][39] The papers included descriptions of molecular biology and computational methods as well as new research on normal and disease biology.[40][41][42][43]

See also

References

[44]

  1. "Time for the epigenome : Article : Nature".
  2. Project set to map marks on genome: Nature 463: 596-597 (2010) doi:10.1038/463596b
  3. Bae, JB (2013). "Perspectives of international human epigenome consortium". Genomics Inform. 11 (1): 7–14. doi:10.5808/GI.2013.11.1.7. PMC 3630389. PMID 23613677.
  4. "BioNews - Human Epigenome project launched".
  5. "France: Human epigenome consortium takes first steps" Archived 2015-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. 5 March 2010.
  6. "Frontiers | Multilayer-omics analyses of human cancers: exploration of biomarkers and drug targets based on the activities of the International Human Epigenome Consortium | Epigenomics and Epigenetics". Frontiers.
  7. GmbH, Eurice. "About IHEC · IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  8. GmbH, Eurice. "IHEC Countries · IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  9. "Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium Overview".
  10. "The EU invests €30 million to map new territory in health research".
  11. "Journey from stem cell to blood cell uncovered: BLUEPRINT study catalogues events that regulate blood cell creation".
  12. "Catalogue of how white cells are formed by the blood stem cell".
  13. "Europe to map the human epigenome".
  14. GmbH, Eurice. "IHEC welcomes two new European member projects | IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  15. "Deutsche Beteiligung am International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC)" Archived 2015-07-08 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. "DEEP (Deutsches Epigenom Programm) Project".
  17. GmbH, Eurice. "Singapore · IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  18. GmbH, Eurice. "IHEC welcomes the Hong Kong Epigenomics Project as new member to the consortium | IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  19. "The Hong Kong Epigenomics Project". epihk.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  20. "The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) | Collaboration/cooperation with external institutions | Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development". www.amed.go.jp. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  21. "Roadmap Epigenomics Project - Home". www.roadmapepigenomics.org. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  22. Eurice GmbH. "IHEC Members · IHEC" Archived 2013-10-08 at the Wayback Machine.
  23. GmbH, Eurice. "IHEC Working Groups · IHEC". ihec-epigenomes.org. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  24. "Genome Medicine | Authorisation | Synergy and competition between cancer genome sequencing and epigenome mapping projects".
  25. Eurice GmbH. "Objectives".
  26. "Delving deeper into the animal genome".
  27. "Home | Global Alliance for Genomics and Health". genomicsandhealth.org. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  28. Eurice GmbH. "News+Events · IHEC".
  29. Stunnenberg, Hendrik G.; Abrignani, Sergio; Adams, David; Almeida, Melanie de; Altucci, Lucia; Amin, Viren; Amit, Ido; Antonarakis, Stylianos E.; Aparicio, Samuel (2016-11-17). "The International Human Epigenome Consortium: A Blueprint for Scientific Collaboration and Discovery". Cell. 167 (5): 1145–1149. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.007. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 27863232.
  30. Protocols and Standards’
  31. "Data Portal | IHEC". epigenomesportal.ca. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  32. Bujold, David; Morais, David Anderson de Lima; Gauthier, Carol; Côté, Catherine; Caron, Maxime; Kwan, Tony; Chen, Kuang Chung; Laperle, Jonathan; Markovits, Alexei Nordell (2016-11-23). "The International Human Epigenome Consortium Data Portal". Cell Systems. 3 (5): 496–499.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cels.2016.10.019. ISSN 2405-4712. PMID 27863956.
  33. "IHEC coordinated paper release". EGA Blog. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  34. Eurice GmbH. "About IHEC".
  35. "IHEC Data Portal".
  36. "Consortium: IHEC: Cell Press". Retrieved 2017-06-23. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  37. Cell editorial team (2016-11-17). "A Cornucopia of Advances in Human Epigenomics". Cell. 167 (5): 1139. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.001. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 27863229.
  38. "Epigenetics Around the Web: Top epigenetics stories from 2016 - Epigenetics". Epigenetics. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  39. "More than 40 New Papers on Epigenetics Published | The Scientist Magazine®". The Scientist. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  40. "Singapore scientists part of breakthrough in autism research". Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  41. "Cancer Epigenomic Insights Reported by International Consortia Members". GenomeWeb. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  42. "Epigenome Consortium Research Teams Tackle Immune Response Epigenetics". GenomeWeb. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  43. "How blood cell genetic variations impact on common diseases". Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  44. "Integrative functional genomics identifies an enhancer looping to the SOX9 gene disrupted by the 17q24.3 prostate cancer risk locus".
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