Cancer research has mostly been focused on mutations in DNA, both in somatic and germline cells. It is now realized that cancer progression, malignant transformation, and metastasis involve epigenetic abnormalities as well as genetic alterations. Epigenetics is the field of study of factors that interact with DNA that can change the expression of genes without mutations or alterations in the DNA sequence itself. In addition, cell-to-cell heterogeneity is a hallmark of cancer and hence characterizing and understanding the epigenetic signatures of cancer cells compared to normal cells at the single-cell level is crucial. Furthermore, the reversible nature of epigenetic alterations provides opp...
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Cancer research has mostly been focused on mutations in DNA, both in somatic and germline cells. It is now realized that cancer progression, malignant transformation, and metastasis involve epigenetic abnormalities as well as genetic alterations. Epigenetics is the field of study of factors that interact with DNA that can change the expression of genes without mutations or alterations in the DNA sequence itself. In addition, cell-to-cell heterogeneity is a hallmark of cancer and hence characterizing and understanding the epigenetic signatures of cancer cells compared to normal cells at the single-cell level is crucial. Furthermore, the reversible nature of epigenetic alterations provides opportunities for novel therapeutic targets and research in this field has accelerated the search for new drugs to treat cancer. The proposed Comprehensive Cancer Epigenomics Core (CCEC) facility will meet the needs of future cancer research. This will be a dynamic core facility that leverages existing infrastructure and resources with a mission of keeping pace with emerging technologies and instrumentation and the changing needs of the cancer research community. As a rapidly evolving field, the barriers and costs of epigenomic and single cell multi-omics profiling can be high and the costs of constantly changing instrumentation needs for these technologies are far more than what most individual investigators can afford. As the first and only dedicated CPRIT core facility focusing on epigenomics, the CCEC facility will address this significant challenge. The core will close the technology gap and enable individual and collaborative research groups to successfully utilize current and emerging epigenomics and single cell technologies in their research with cost efficiency and high quality that would otherwise not be possible.
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