News and Events
EVENTS
Topic: The Epigenetic Basis of Common Human Disease
Date: 22/11/2019
Time: 10:30 am - 11:45 am
Venue: Kai Chong Tong, CUHK Postgraduate Education Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin
Category: Conferences
Details:

Seminar Poster

Speaker:
Professor Andrew P. Feinberg, M.D., M.P.H.
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Whiting School of Engineering,
and Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA

About the Speaker:
Professor Andrew Feinberg studied mathematics and humanities at Yale University in the Directed Studies honors program, and he received his B.A. (1973) and M.D. (1976) from the accelerated medical program at Johns Hopkins University, as well as an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins (1981). He performed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental biology at University of California San Diego (UCSD), clinical training in medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and genetics research and clinical training at Johns Hopkins.

Epigenetics is a branch of science that studies the biochemical modifications of the genome. Professor Feinberg is a founder of the field of cancer epigenetics. He has made fundamental discoveries in the field of epigenetics, impacting diverse fields ranging from cancer, stem cells, molecular diagnostics and novel therapeutics. He was the first to uncover evidence for methylation-mediated reversible behavior in a whole organism. He has also made important discoveries of altered DNA methylation in human cancer, human imprinted genes and loss of imprinting (LOI) in cancer, and the molecular basis of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and epigenetic risk of cancer. Most recently, Professor Feinberg pioneered genome-scale epigenetics (epigenomics), with the first whole genome bisulfite sequencing analysis of human cancer, and the discovery of large hypomethylated blocks, as well as a mechanism for disruption of these blocks in epithelial-mesenchymal transition. He has shown the close relationship between epigenomics changes in normal development, cancer, and stem cell reprogramming.

Furthermore, Professor Feinberg leads a research with NASA in exploring whether and how spending a year on the International Space Station changes an astronaut’s epigenetic markers. The subject for the study is Scott Kelly, and his twin brother, Mark Kelly, who remains on the Earth and serves as the control subject. Professor Feinberg made a trip himself to NASA’s Johnson Space Center with his postdoctoral fellow, Dr Lindsay Rizzardi, to find out effective ways of storing and preserving blood and other liquid samples in zero gravity. The study explores the possibility of astronauts sequencing their own DNA on future longer flights and tests the laboratory techniques for sequencing at zero gravity in NASA’s reduced-gravity aircraft. Their adventure was published in Nature http://www.nature.com/news/zero-gravity-genomics-passes-first-test-1.18537.

About the Lecture:
This lecture will explore epigenetic mechanisms on normal development, cancer, and stem cell reprogramming and discuss its exciting implications to molecular diagnostics and novel forms of therapy.

Registration:
https://webapp.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/ras/restricted/event?id=31264

CME Accreditation:
One CME point for attendance pending approval by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK).

 

All are welcome.
For enquiries, please contact Mr Jonathan Lee at 3763 6005.