BMBF awards 16M€ to support German epigenome program initiative

Aug 29 2012

The German Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) will support the German epigenome program initiative "DEEP" with a budget of 16M€ over 5 years. DEEP will be the official German contribution to the world wide operating International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC). The DEEP program will be coordinated by Prof. Dr. Jörn Walter, Saarland University. DEEP forms a network of 21 German expert groups for interdisciplinary epigenome research.

DEEP will generate 70 reference epigenome maps of major primary cell/tissue types in normal and diseased states exclusively using NGS technologies. The scientific program focusses on metabolic and inflammatory diseases such as adipositas, fatty liver disease, bowel disease and rheumatic arthritis. DEEP combines strong experimental and bioinformatics expertise in epigenomics. The goal is to generate high quality reference epigenomes which will be deposited in public repositories coordinated by IHEC. The DEEP epigenome program will be flanked by functional model studies using mouse and human cell systems. This combined program will produce new functional insights in the molecular processes of complex systemic diseases.