Using epigenomics to understand vertebrate embryogenesis and human congenital disease

Speaker: Alvaro Rada Iglesias, Group leader, Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne
Host: Robin Andersson, SCARB

Abstract
Epigenomic profiling and the use of chromatin signatures are powerful tools to functionally annotate vertebrate genomes. I will first present a simple and universal epigenomic strategy that leverages the cellular heterogeneity that exists within embryonic tissues to identify embryonic patterning regulators with high sensitivity and specificity. In the second part of my talk, I will describe how enhancer maps based on epigenomic data and topologically associated domain (TAD) maps can be combined to uncover novel aetiological mechanisms for human congenital diseases. Finally, I will show how such novel disease mechanisms can be modeled and tested by combining hiPSC-based in vitro differentiation systems with CRISPR/Cas9 genomic engineering.