Berlin based Epigenomics GmbH today announced the official kick-off of the \'Human Epigenome Consortium\' (HEC). The consortium includes amongst others the coordinator, Epigenomics GmbH, as well as researchers from the Sanger Center (Hinxton, UK), the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin), the Centre National de G‚notypage (France), the Technical University of Berlin, Medeea GmbH (Hamburg), and the German Cancer Research Institute (Heidelberg).
The consortium was established to fill the void that will be left even after the completion of the human genome project (HUGO) in 2000, as well as the US$300m funded SNP-consortium. Neither of the two, nor any other current rival technology, will answer the most fundamental questions of genetic underpinnings of life: the informational systems that regulate and complement the genetic and genomic information that determine what attributes of a cell get expressed, e.g. whether it turns into a cancer cell or not.
Epigenomics GmbH and the Human Epigenome Consortium will develop integrated technologies that provide an individual\'s epigenotype or \'digital phenotype\'. To achieve their goals, the teams will approach the scientific issue from various angles: firstly, genome-scale mapping of epigenetic parameters such as DNA-methylation; secondly, identification and analysis of epigenomic loci in some of the most interesting regions of the human genome; and thirdly, comparative analysis of epigenomic information from different organisms.
These projects - as the industry \'s leading magazine \'Nature Biotechnology\' said in its December issue 1999 (p. 1144) - äare just the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a long and fertile period of epigenomic researchô. Ultimately, Epigenomics aims at globally establishing an \'open phenotypic unified standard\' (OPUS) for classification, annotation, and utilisation of epigenetic information.
Epigenomics is a young, growth-oriented biotech company, offering a unique technology platform. Epigenomics aims at introducing the first routine diagnostics based on molecular biology for complex genetic disease into clinical reality on a global scale. Epigenomics pioneers the massive collection of epigenetic information for a description of cells and individuals by \'digital phenotypes\'. With its technology Epigenomics will be a leader in the revolution towards tomorrow\'s personalized medicines.
