Epigenetics: Unraveling the Mysteries of Nature & Nurture | Natalia Husby | TEDxUniversityofDelaware
Summary
TLDRThis video explains epigenetics, the study of changes around our DNA that influence gene expression without altering the genetic code itself. It highlights how lifestyle choices, environmental factors, and traumatic experiences can shape our physical and mental health, even across generations. By understanding epigenetic processes, we can develop more effective treatments for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, and PTSD. The speaker emphasizes the power of individual choices—like exercise, therapy, and healthy living—to positively impact epigenetics and improve personal well-being and that of future generations.
Takeaways
- 🧬 Epigenetics is the study of changes that occur around DNA, affecting how genes are expressed.
- 🎵 The human genome is likened to a music library, with each gene being a song that impacts us uniquely.
- 🛡 Epigenetics plays a crucial role in our biology, influencing physical and mental health, behavior, and environmental interactions.
- 🔄 External factors like air, food, and social interactions can feedback and alter epigenetics, affecting health.
- 🌟 The genetic revolution has propelled epigenetic studies, revealing that genes alone don't dictate disease.
- 🌱 Epigenetics can explain differences in disease resistance and resilience to environmental changes, like in crops.
- 🔬 Epigenetic technologies like Cut and Run and Cut and Tag allow for the study of gene expression at the single-cell level.
- 💊 Understanding epigenetic profiles can lead to more personalized and effective treatments for diseases like cancer.
- 🌿 Epigenetic studies are applicable across various fields including neuroscience, toxicology, and agriculture.
- 👪 Epigenetic changes can be inherited across generations, as seen in descendants of trauma survivors showing increased stress responses.
- 💪 Positive lifestyle choices like therapy, exercise, and healthy eating can alter epigenetics, improving health outcomes for oneself and future generations.
Q & A
What is epigenetics and how does it differ from genetics?
-Epigenetics refers to changes that occur around DNA, affecting how genes are expressed without altering the DNA sequence itself. While genetics focuses on the inherited DNA, epigenetics studies how external factors influence gene expression.
How can identical twins have different traits despite having the same genetic makeup?
-Identical twins can exhibit different traits due to epigenetic changes. Their environment, lifestyle choices, and experiences can lead to variations in how their genes are expressed, even though their DNA is identical.
How do lifestyle choices affect epigenetics?
-Lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, exposure to stress, and environmental factors can alter epigenetic markers, which in turn can influence gene expression and affect one's health, behavior, and disease susceptibility.
How can traumatic life experiences impact someone’s health decades later?
-Traumatic experiences can lead to epigenetic changes that affect how stress and emotional responses are managed. These changes can persist for years, potentially influencing mental health and the ability to handle stress or form relationships.
What is the relationship between epigenetics and disease development?
-Epigenetic mechanisms can play a crucial role in disease development by influencing which genes are expressed or silenced. These changes can lead to conditions like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes by affecting how cells function.
What are some modern technologies used to study epigenetics?
-Technologies like 'Cut and Run' and 'Cut and Tag' are used to study epigenetics. They allow researchers to examine epigenetic changes in very small samples, even down to a single cell, providing insights into disease mechanisms and treatment responses.
How can epigenetics explain the varying responses to cancer treatments?
-People respond differently to cancer treatments due to variations in their epigenetic profiles. Epigenetic technologies help identify these differences, leading to more personalized and effective treatment options for individuals who do not respond well to conventional therapies.
Can epigenetic changes be passed down to future generations?
-Yes, epigenetic changes can be inherited. For example, children of survivors of traumatic events, like the Holocaust or Rwandan Genocide, have shown higher stress levels and PTSD symptoms, despite not experiencing the trauma themselves.
Can negative epigenetic outcomes be reversed or modified?
-Yes, negative epigenetic outcomes can often be reversed or improved through healthy lifestyle choices like therapy, exercise, diet, and medication. These changes can positively impact gene expression and overall health.
What is the broader significance of epigenetics in science and everyday life?
-Epigenetics is significant because it helps explain how our biology, environment, and experiences interact to shape our health and behavior. It offers potential breakthroughs in treating diseases, understanding human development, and even preventing negative traits from being passed down to future generations.
Outlines
🧬 How Lifestyle and Environment Shape Our Health
This paragraph introduces epigenetics, explaining how genetically identical twins can be drastically different due to lifestyle choices and external factors. It raises questions about the influence of these choices on diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes, as well as the impact of traumatic life experiences on stress management and personal relationships. Epigenetics offers insights into how these factors affect gene expression, with the term 'epi' meaning 'upon' and genetics referring to DNA and genes. Epigenetics describes changes that occur around DNA and how they influence physical and mental health, behavior, and interactions with the environment.
🎶 Genes as Music: Epigenetics Explained
Epigenetics is likened to a musical playlist, where each gene in the human genome represents a unique song in a library. Just as different people express themselves through various music styles, our cells express different genes. Epigenetics creates the playlist of genes for each cell type, which in turn influences how our cells function and interact. This affects our overall health, behavior, and how we relate to others. External factors like the air we breathe and our daily choices act as invisible instruments in a musical, shaping our gene expression and thus influencing our health outcomes.
🔬 The Rise of Epigenetics and Its Impact on Disease
This section discusses the growing field of epigenetics, which gained momentum with the mapping of the Human Genome. Contrary to initial hopes, the answers to curing diseases are not solely in our genes; epigenetic mechanisms also play a crucial role. Epigenetics helps explain why people respond differently to the same diseases, such as COVID-19, or why some crops survive harsh conditions while others perish. The development of epigenetic technologies like Cut and Run and Cut and Tag allows scientists to study gene selection in cells, even in a single malfunctioning cell that could lead to diseases like cancer.
🧪 New Epigenetic Technologies for Cancer Treatment
Innovative epigenetic technologies offer significant advantages in studying diseases. Techniques like Cut and Run and Cut and Tag work with a small number of cells, even as few as a single cell, to identify processes leading to cancer. Different individuals have distinct epigenetic profiles, which explains why some do not respond to conventional treatments. These new technologies pave the way for personalized, more precise, and effective treatments, helping address the unique needs of patients who do not benefit from current therapies.
🌍 Broad Applications of Epigenetics Across Fields
Epigenetics has wide-reaching applications in fields such as neuroscience, toxicology, immunology, agriculture, drug development, and embryology. By applying epigenetic techniques, researchers can better understand how our biology, environments, and experiences interact to shape living organisms. This knowledge could help prevent or reverse negative outcomes from traumatic childhood experiences, understand the impact of environmental toxins on health, and potentially cure diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's. The inheritance of epigenetic changes is also explored, noting that both positive and negative life experiences can be passed down through generations.
💡 Taking Control of Your Epigenetics
The final paragraph highlights the empowering message of epigenetics: individuals have the ability to take control of their gene expression through positive lifestyle choices such as therapy, exercise, healthy eating, and medication. It emphasizes that these decisions can reverse negative outcomes and improve both personal and generational health. The speaker hopes to inspire curiosity in epigenetics, encouraging both scientists and non-scientists to learn more about the field and make healthier choices for themselves and future generations. The paragraph ends with a motivational call to live the healthiest, most fulfilling life possible.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Epigenetics
💡Genome
💡Gene Expression
💡External Factors
💡Cut and Run / Cut and Tag
💡Cancer
💡Trauma
💡Environmental Toxicants
💡Mental Health
💡Lifestyle Choices
Highlights
Epigenetics explains how genetically identical twins can have different traits and how lifestyle choices influence disease risk.
Epigenetics describes changes that happen around our DNA and how they influence gene expression.
Genes are like songs in a music library, and epigenetics selects the unique playlist of genes for each cell type.
Gene expression influences physical health, mental health, behavior, and how we interact with the environment.
External factors like air, food, and social interactions affect epigenetics and impact health outcomes.
Epigenetic research has grown thanks to the genetic revolution, including the mapping of the entire human genome.
Epigenetics, not just genetics, plays a role in disease development, often overlooked by medical science.
Technologies like 'cut and run' and 'cut and tag' allow researchers to study single cells and how genes are selected.
These technologies offer insight into diseases like cancer by studying malfunctioning cells at a deeper level.
Different people have different epigenetic profiles, which affects their response to treatments like cancer therapy.
Epigenetics has broad applications across fields like neuroscience, toxicology, agriculture, and embryology.
Understanding epigenetics can help prevent negative outcomes related to environmental factors and early life abuse.
Epigenetic changes can be passed down across generations, as seen in trauma survivors and their descendants.
Life choices such as therapy, exercise, and diet can reverse negative epigenetic outcomes and improve health.
Epigenetics empowers individuals to take control of their health and influence future generations through lifestyle choices.
Transcripts
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[Music]
have you ever wondered how two
genetically identical twins can be so
drastically different
and what about how your everyday
lifestyle choices can potentially
increase your risk for developing
diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's or
diabetes
and what about how traumatic life
experiences can affect the way you
navigate personal relationships and
manage stress decades down the road
thankfully epigenetics can help answer
how all of this works
so to break it down into simpler terms
Epi means upon while genetics is the
study of your genes and your DNA
so epigenetics is just a word used to
describe the changes that happen around
our DNA
you can think about it like this the
human genome your entire collection of
your genes is like a music library and
each song in that library is a gene
just like how each song in your music
library has its own unique individual
meaning to you that uniquely impacts you
our genes do the same thing
and just like how different people
Express themselves with different styles
of music
our cells Express themselves with
different kinds of genes
and this is where epigenetics comes in
epigenetics is what creates that unique
playlist of genes for each cell type
and this control creates a very powerful
influence on your biology because how
your genes are expressed affects how
your cells work which affects how they
interact with one another
which affects your physical health your
mental health your behavior how you
interact with others and how you
interact with your environment
you can think about these biological
factors like their characters in a
musical
and while each character plays a
different role of varying importance
unified music they come together to tell
a story that is unique to you your
health and your personality
but it's not just a one-way Street it
doesn't just go from your genes to your
cells up through to your behavior and so
forth but the external Factor so the air
you breathe the foods you eat the people
you interact with the everyday decisions
you make
all feeds back down and changes your
epigenetics which can also change your
physical health and your mental health
so these external factors they're kind
of like the instruments in a musical and
while you don't see them during the show
they're still changing and impacting the
overall message of your story too
so epigenetics has been studied for the
last few decades but the explosion and
Catalyst for its explosion has been the
genetic Revolution so not too long ago
scientists completely mapped out the
entire Human Genome and with this major
Milestone accomplished many of the
scientific and medical communities
thought that the answers to finding all
disease cures could be found in our
genes where we're quickly finding out
that this isn't the case because
epigenetic mechanisms are also involved
in disease development but they're often
overlooked
epigenetics actually can help us answer
a lot of different questions across
different fields of science
so what makes somebody more naturally
resistant to a strain of covid whereas
somebody else when exposed to the same
strain ends up hospitalized
and what about crops why is it that some
crops survive drastic environmental
changes while some might perish more
quickly
the rise of epigenetics and epigenetic
Technologies has brought about some
really exciting and Innovative
Technologies used to study epigenetics
and improve potential treatments for
cancer and all kinds of diseases
and the difference of epigenetic
Technologies over genomic Technologies
is that they tell you how genes are
getting selected
so with genomic Technologies they kind
of tell you like what song is being
added to the cellular Library
but knowing which Gene is involved a
disease or which song is not enough we
also need to understand how they're
getting selected for diseases and that's
what epigenomic technologies offer us
and while there's some really great
Technologies out there two of them are
called Cut and Run and cut and tag
and some of these advantages are that
they work with a very small number of
cells and they can be modified to study
as little as one single cell at a time
so think about that for a second one
malfunctioning cell is all it takes for
cancer to develop
and now we have the ability to study the
unique processes happening in that cell
that lead to the development of cancer
some of you may know somebody who is
battling or has battled cancer before
you're probably aware that not everybody
responsible to certain treatments right
this is because different people have
different epigenetic profiles
and by using these new technologies we
can start to develop treatments that are
more individualized more precise and
more effective for people who just don't
respond well to the conventional
treatments available
but the potential applications of
epigenetics don't stop there whether you
study Neuroscience toxicology Immunology
agriculture drug development embryology
it's so crucial that we start applying
these techniques because they can help
us start to unravel the Mysteries
surrounding how our biology our
environments and our experiences all
interact to shape living things every
day
by understanding how these epigenetic
processes work
we could potentially prevent or reverse
the negative outcomes associated with
early life childhood abuse
we could potentially understand how
environmental factors and toxicants in
our environment impact our health and
development and find ways to prevent
those negative changes from happening
we can even potentially cure devastating
diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's
and by the way the amazing thing about
epigenetics is it doesn't just affect
you and those around you but scientists
have found that it can be passed down
across Generations too
so for example survivors of traumatic
experiences like the Rwandan Genocide
and the Holocaust A lot of those people
develop PTSD as a result of those
terrible experiences and then their own
children who had not gone through that
experience in their lifetime also showed
symptoms of PTSD and had higher levels
of cortisol the stress hormone
so parents grandparents and future
parents keep in mind
that your life experiences don't just
end with you
but there's a potential of passing those
down to Future Generations too
but don't worry because you can pass
down good experiences too and the beauty
of epigenetics is that you can change
and you can adapt
and you can actually take control of
your epigenetics reverse those negative
outcomes by doing things like going to
therapy exercising eating healthy taking
medication
and isn't that so powerful that these
decisions you make in your life can make
such a massive impact in your biology
and gives you that control to better
yourself
and so my hope for you all today is that
your curiosity about epigenetics has
been ignited
for those of you that are in science I
hope that this inspires you to apply
epigenetics research to your academic
studies and your lab work
and for most of you who are probably not
in science I hope this makes you want to
learn more about epigenetics in general
and the next time you find yourself
sitting in your car listening to your
favorite playlist
take that opportunity to reflect on your
lifestyle
feel empowered by your choices and
decide to take control of that cellular
playlist by living your healthiest best
lives for yourself and for future
Generations
thank you
[Applause]
تصفح المزيد من مقاطع الفيديو ذات الصلة
How genetics and environment work together to shape our destiny: Milena Georgieva at TEDxAUBG
NOVA | Epigenetics
Genius Insight | Epigenetics and Twin Studies
What is epigenetics? - Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna
Will Epigenetics Change the Speed of Evolution? | Cheryl Walker, PhD | TEDxBaylorCollegeofMedicine
Epigenetics: Nature vs nurture
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