Epigenetics researchers at WID examine how the epigenome — the layer of chemical information that sits on top of the genome — switches genes ‘on’ or ‘off’ and is controlled by outside factors such as lifestyle and diet. Research in this area focuses on the molecular, chemical, and physical components underlying epigenetic mechanisms and utilizes genomic, proteomic, and biochemical methods to reveal novel epigenetic information and mechanisms. We are investigating how extrinsic factors (diet, small-molecules, metabolism and environmental factors) influence the epigenome and control cellular decision and are developing new technologies to uncover and interrogate the epigenetic code written in chemical tags.
As part of WID’s Multi-Omics Hub, the Epigenetics Initiative reaches out to foster interdisciplinary collaborations with basic and translational research in epigenetics and chromatin function.
A new publication from the Xuehua Zhong’s group at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the genetics department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison clarifies an important epigenetic mechanism in plants that will help researchers better understand the epigenomes of both plants and animals.
Rupa Sridharan was among 24 UW professors to earn Vilas professorships and awards. The Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Award recognizes research and teaching excellence and provides flexible research funding for three years.
WID’s new hubs—Data Science, Multi-Omics, and Illuminating Discovery—represent a new path forward for collaborative research projects and fields.
With Wisconsin’s short growing seasons, reducing a plant’s life cycle and completing the season earlier “could be very important for many crops.”
Investigators from WID are among the recipients of the latest round of UW2020 awards.
One of the UW Carbone Cancer Center members presenting is WID’s Peter Lewis. His work focuses on how genes are turned on and off during embryonic development, and how misregulation in those genes can lead to some childhood cancers.
Mark Klein and Peter Lewis were recognized for their cancer research awards from The Ride, sponsored by the UW Carbone Cancer Center, at a recent Wisconsin Men’s Hockey game.
WID researcher Sushmita Roy and collaborators at UW–Madison and the University of Florida will use a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study how some plants partner with bacteria to create usable nitrogen and to transfer this ability to the bioenergy crop poplar.
Xuehua Zhong recently received an outstanding investigator award from NIH via the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) mechanism to support her research. She talked about how she uses plants to study epigenetics in an interview with Grow magazine.
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) researchers Rupa Sridharan and Sushmita Roy are combining their expertise in regenerative biology and computational biology to better understand how cells transition from one type to another through gene regulation.
The podcast “Is DNA the Basis for all Life in the Universe?” produced by The Naked Scientists, an affiliate of the BBC at Cambridge University features John Denu speaking of his recent findings on how the gut microbiome affects DNA expression.
Systems Biology researcher Sushmita Roy is leading an effort putting computational methods to work characterizing the gene regulatory networks responsible for cell differentiation.
The upshot of the study from researchers in the Epigenetics theme at WID is another indictment of the so-called Western diet, high in saturated fats, sugar, and red meat.
Xuehua Zhong describes an epigenetic mechanism behind plant aging for the first time in a ground-breaking new paper in eLife.
The Epigenetics theme at WID is putting mass spectrometry to use in new ways with specialized workflows designed to uncover the mysteries of chromatin.
John Denu, Epigenetics Theme leader, keeps UW-Madison on top of research in epigenetics.
Xuehua Zhong, Assistant Professor in WID’s Epigenetics Theme studies the epigenetic connections mammals share with plants.
Published today in Stem Cell Reports, researchers led by Randolph Ashton and Ethan Lippmann present a unifying protocol to create neural stem cells from diverse regions of the hindbrain and spinal cord.
Rupa Sridharan, Assistant Professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology at Wisconsin Institute for Discovery explains how she increased reprogramming efficiency to get pluripotent stem cells.
At the first Midwest Chromatin and Epigenetics Meeting, WID researchers and scientists around the country are giving new meaning to the “Nature versus Nurture” debate.
How do fatty acids such as omega-3 play a role in human health? WID researchers are looking to the genome for answers.
Epigenetics scientist Rupa Sridharan received the Shaw Scientist Award for her work in converting stem cells.
Research led by Epigenetics researcher John Denu has gained two best-of-the-year awards from the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
A recent WID study creates a better understanding of how cells are “reprogrammed” when an organism eats fewer calories.
