Community Outreach and Education Core (Core B)

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The Community Outreach and Education Core of the Center for Male Reproductive Epigenomics will be located and operated though Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA Biomed) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center located in South West Los Angeles. This Core will develop outreach and education programs designed to disseminate information on the effects of life styles on the epigenetic regulation of sperm gene expression that may be transmitted to the next generation. Our theme is to promote “Healthy life style, Healthy sperm epigenome, Healthy babies”. Building on our prior collaboration and community-academic partnership, we plan to achieve our goals by engaging youths, high school and college students, and younger adults from our communities to disseminate information on reproductive epigenomics and their effects on the next generation. We have four aims: Aim 1. Promote and sustain bidirectional knowledge sharing between the community and academic institutions by providing opportunities for networking and developing a community specific dissemination plan for evidence based information on how obesity and inactivity change the sperm epigenome transmitting unhealthy phenotype and epigenotype to the next generation. Aim 2. Create educational programs, workshops and conferences to engage younger adults, college and high school students (future parents) to disseminate information on “healthy life styles, healthy reproductive epigenome; healthy babies”. With our partners we will conduct community-partnered research conferences and workshops for younger adults, and summer program for high school and college students to provide knowledge transfer on the impact of environment on epigenetics? how improvement in the environment may reverse maladaptive epigenetic changes? and how epigenetics are linked to intergenerational transmission of disease phenotype? Aim 3. Develop a community focused website for the Center for Male Reproductive Genomics. Working with our community partners, academic partners at the University of Nevada Reno and the University of Texas San Antonio, we will develop a culturally and racially sensitive website to provide information on the role of epigenomics in reproductive health in general and impact of sperm epigenomics on next generation’s health. Aim 4. Establish the governance and operation structure of the Community Core Advisory Council that strengthens existing partnerships and builds new bridges between community and academia for education and research.