Epigenetics, Epitranscriptomics, and Gene Regulation

This course is designed as an in-depth exploration of the field of epigenetics and epitranscriptomics, with a focus on gaining understanding of gene regulatory mechanisms that occur without changes in the underlying DNA sequence. We extensively cover molecular mechanisms including DNA and RNA modifications, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, non-coding RNAs, and RNA editing. We use current primary literature to discuss the role of epigenetics and epitranscriptomics in developmental and aging processes, responses to nutrition, environmental exposures and infections, and malignancies such as cancer, neurological disorders, and inflammatory diseases. We also focus on molecular techniques and model organisms commonly used in epigenetics research, with the aim of enhancing scientific literature comprehension and learning how to design experiments to test new hypotheses.