Center for Epigenetics and Preventative Medicine

Project Title:

Environmental Epigenetics and Preventative Medicine Program

 

Summary:

The major area of focus of the Program will be to develop epigenetic biomarkers for disease to allow preventative medicine approaches in the future to prevent or delay the onset of disease. The Environmental Epigenetics and Preventative Medicine Program will be established within the College of Medicine at Washington State University Spokane WA and develop epigenetic biomarkers for disease to allow preventative medicine approaches, which potentially may dramatically improve human health and well-being. The ten disease/pathology epigenetic biomarkers developed will involve Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, metabolic disease, hearing pathology, ASD, prostate cancer, sleep pathology, PCOS, and asthma. The major objective is to develop epigenetic biomarkers for various disease susceptibilities to facilitate preventative medicine approaches to prevent or delay the onset of disease. This can be through lifestyle changes or preventative therapeutics. A clinical coordinator will facilitate sample collections (e.g., buccal cells) of disease (case) versus control populations. The epigenetic biomarkers will be developed and validated. Follow up prospective pre-clinical studies will use more general populations with potential disease susceptibilities to determine the utility of the epigenetic biomarker to assess later life disease onset. Potential preventative strategies of therapeutics and lifestyle change will then be identified for future use and testing. The objective is to initiate the paradigm shift to transition from reactionary medicine to preventative medicine and reduce the disease burden in the human population. The epigenetic biomarkers of human disease susceptibility will facilitate preventative medicine applications such as lifestyle change or preventative therapeutics to be considered. These preventative medicine approaches may dramatically improve human health and well-being, which is the mission of the Templeton Foundation and WSU Spokane Medical School. Current medicine is based on Reactionary Medicine to react to the presence of disease. The presence of biomarkers for disease susceptibility will facilitate Preventative Medicine approaches to reduce disease burden in the future.