Investigating the role of DNA methylation in human growth disorders

在我们所有的细胞中，由DNA组成的基因控制着正常的发育。这些基因的控制会影响婴儿在子宫内的生长情况。如果婴儿出生时非常小，他们可能会有脑损伤，这种生长不良的连锁反应往往会影响他们以后的健康。我们发现这种修饰叫做表观遗传？生长基因DNA的改变会导致子宫内发育不良。使用来自罕见的人类严重生长缺陷综合症的DNA样本和来自小婴儿的正常DNA样本，我们将研究这些对他们DNA的修饰。为了做到这一点，我们将使用新的和复杂的技术，可以确切地告诉我们这些，表观遗传？变化影响生长基因的表达。一旦我们确定了这些表观遗传标记，我们将能够设计生物标记和诊断测试，以治疗与严重胎儿生长问题相关的健康问题。

In all our cells our genes which are made up of DNA control normal development into adulthood. The control of these genes affects how well a baby grows in the womb. If a baby is born very small, they can have brain damage and the knock on effects of this poor growth can often affect their health in later life. We have found that modifications called ?epigenetic? changes to the DNA on growth genes can result in poor growth in the womb. Using DNA samples from rare human syndromes with severe growth defects and normal DNA samples from small babies we will study these modifications to their DNA. To do this we will use new and sophisticated technology that can tell us exactly how these ?epigenetic? changes effect growth gene expression. Once we have identified these epigenetic marks we will be able to design biomarkers and diagnostic tests for treatment of the health problems associated with severe fetal growth problems.