Handbook of Epigenetics

Dr. Tollefsbol is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and a Senior Scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Integrative Center for Aging Research, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, University Wide Microbiome Center, and the Comprehensive Diabetes Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is Director of the UAB Cell Senescence Culture Facility which he established in 1999. Dr. Tollefsbol trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Research Professor with members of the National Academy of Science at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. He earned doctorates in molecular biology and osteopathic medicine from the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center and his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Houston. He has received prior funding from the NCI, NHLBI, NIMH and other federal institutes as well as the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) among many other sources.

1. Epigenetics: The New Science of Genetics

SECTION I: Molecular Mechanisms of Epigenetics

2. Mechanisms of DNA Methylation, Methy-CpG Recognition, and Demethylation in Mammals

3. Mechanisms of Histone Modifications

SECTION II: Additional Epigenetic Processes

4. The Epigenetics of Non-coding RNA

5. Prions and Prion-like Phenomena in Epigenetic Inheritance

6. Chromosomal Position Effects and Gene Variegation: Impact in Pathologies

7. Polycomb Mechanisms and Epigenetic Control of Gene Activity

SECTION III: Epigenetic Technology

8. Analysis of Gene-specific DNA Methylation

9. Methods for Assessing Genome-wide DNA Methylation

10. Methylation of Lysine-9 of Histone H3: Role in Heterochromatin Modulation and Tumorigenesis

11. Chromatin Modifications Distinguish Genomic Features and Physical Organization of the Nucleus

12. Assessing Epigenetic Information

SECTION IV: Model Organisms of Epigenetics

13. Epigenetics of Eukaryotic Microbes

14. Drosophila Epigenetics

15. Mouse Models of Epigenetic Inheritance

16. Epigenetic Regulatory Mechanisms in Plants

SECTION V: Metabolism and Epigenetics   17. Metabolic Regulation of DNA Methylation in Mammals

18. Dietary and Metabolic Compounds Affecting Chromatin Dynamics/Remodeling 

SECTION VI: Functions of Epigenetics

19. Epigenetics, Stem Cells and Cellular Differentiation

20. Epigenetic Basis of Skeletal Muscle Regeneration

21. Epigenetics of X Chromosome Inactivation

22. Genomic Imprinting

23. Epigenetics of Memory Processes

24. Transgenerational Epigenetics

25. Aging Epigenetics

SECTION VII: Evolutionary Epigenetics     26. Epigenetics in Adaptive Evolution and Development

SECTION VIII: Epigenetic Epidemiology

27. The Effects of Diet on Epigenetic Processes

28. Environmental Agents and Epigenetics

29. Impact of Microbial Infections on the Human Epigenome and Carcinogenesis

30. DNA Methylation Profiles in the 5’-Upstream Region of the Human FMR1 Promoter and in an Adenovirus Transgenome

31. Population Pharmacoepigenomics

SECTION IX: Epigenetics and Human Disease

32. Cancer Epigenetics

33. The Role of Epigenetics in Immune Disorders

34. Epigenetics of Brain Disorders

35. Complex Metabolic Syndromes and Epigenetics

36. Imprinting Disorders in Humans

SECTION X: Epigenetic Therapy

37. Clinical Applications of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors