Oct 1, 2020
Professor François Fuks
researches
epigenetics in human diseases. Along with our immune response
process, scientists know that genetic alterations have a say in
cancer progression. Professor Fuks researches how this interacts
with epigenetic alterations and his work has led to a much sharper
distinction between different types of cancers.
Listeners will learn
- How the two-hit hypothesis works with epigenetics modification and genetic factors,
- Why understanding epigenetics and disease can lead to life-saving therapies, and
- What new "epidrugs" may soon be available and what they are capable of targeting.
François Fuks is a professor of
epigenetics at the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
He's the director of the Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetics and the
Cancer Research Center and founded a company that seeks to address
the epigenetic field called Epics Therapeutics.
He explains the gist of his research in terms of the careful and
ground-breaking work his team has down with epigenomics and
epigenetics in cancer. If cancer were a book series, he says,
one volume is known but he and others are discovering another
volume: this volume shows epigenetic chances and effects that have
implications for diagnosis and therapeutics.
He describes these implications
in careful detail, describing a tight interplay that can lead to
alterations in cancer progression. Genetic and epigenetic events
are very tightly connected. These dynamic modifications can switch
back and forth, adding marks but also removing. He explains this
crosstalk in detail, how the different "lations" from demethylation
to phosphorylation work in epigenetics and genetic forces, and how
imprinting plays a role.
He then addresses an exciting discovery. Scientists had asked if
epigenetics could present a more complete picture than the
subgroups we already divide cancer into. The answer is yes,
epigenetics has enabled a better picture, adding subgroups and
better classification for cancer treatment. Listen in to learn more
about this as well as what "epidrugs" might offer future
patients.
For more about his work, see his lab's web page: http://fukslab.ulb.be/
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK