Decoding the Combinatorial Epigenetic Information of the Mammalian Genome with Engineered DNA Duplex Readers

In mammalian genomes, epigenetic modifications of the nucleobase cytosine occur in both strands of the DNA duplex in the sequence CpG, and they are central regulators of gene expression as well as important cancer biomarkers. However, current analytical techniques cannot reveal the combination in that these modifications occur in the two strands of a DNA duplex. The resulting inability to create genomic maps of these CpG duplex modifcations represents a major roadblock for future developments in epigenetics research and cancer diagnosis. We have engineered the first affinity enrichment probes for selectively analysing novel CpG duplex modifications, and integrated them into user-friendly and cost-effective kits for genomic mapping. In this project, we will develop and commercialize two kits for mapping of the most important novel CpG duplex modification consisting of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine for the epigenetics research and the liquid biopsy markets. This will provide decisive new impulses for epigenetics research as well as for cancer biomarker discovery and liquid biopsy, both large and rapidly growing markets.