Institute of Advanced Studies

Epigenetics and Human Health

Epigenetics, a term that has been around for more than 50 years, was first used to describe the cascade of changes within an organism associated with growth and development that are directed by both the organism's genome and its surrounding environment. 

Now, in the post-genomic era, it has related but different connotations, referring to potentially heritable information that is not encoded by DNA sequence variation, but can change how the DNA is interpreted.

Epigenetic research, which is now in the process of becoming “genomicised”, is paving the way for many new breakthroughs in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Already it has contributed significant new insights into the etiology of several human diseases.

Epigenetic disturbances involving single genes are now recognised to be responsible for a range of disorders associated with abnormalities of growth, neurodevelopmental delay and childhood onset cancers. Increasingly, there is evidence that epigenetic disturbances contribute to the development of complex non-Mendelian diseases such as diabetes mellitus, asthma, epilepsy and neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

A common theme to disease epigenetics is loss of phenotypic responsiveness, or the ability of cells to adapt to internal or external environmental cues. As well as offering many new insights into the pathogenesis of human disease, the recent characterisation of an increasing number of epigenetic mechanisms is fuelling the development of epigenetic therapies, some of which are already in clinical use.

This one-day symposium will include papers on epigenetic responses to the fetal environment, birth defects, neurodevelpmental disorders, common adult onset diseases, epigenetic inheritance, impact of nutrition, epigenetics and cancer, prospects for epigenetic therapy among others. International and national speakers will be presenting at this exciting symposium. There will also be a free public lecture the night before the symposium.

The keynote lecture 'Epigenetics Explained' will be given by Emma Whitelaw, NHMRC Australia Fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research on Thursday 20 August at 6pm in UWA's University Club Auditorium.

Symposium Registration
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Registration: PLEASE NOTE - Registrations for the symposium have now closed. Thank you for your interest.

NOTE: Cancellations and Refunds

Any amendments and/or refunds must be notified in writing to the Conference Secretariat. Cancellations received in writing up to July 21st 2009 will receive a refund, less an administration fee of 25% of full registration fee paid. Cancellations received after 7 August 2009 will not receive a refund, but a substitute delegate is welcome to attend the conference without penalty.