Epigenetic mechanisms control gene expression without affecting genetic changes. All body cells have essentially the same DNA, yet different tissues serve different functions thanks to epigenetic mechanisms. These factors control cell fate and the diverse manifestations of many diseases. Insights into epigenetic processes will lead to new therapeutic approaches. 

 

The vast majority of medical techniques nowadays focus on the 2% of the genome that constitutes the genes. The remaining 98% was recognized as junk DNA for a long time. However, it has been proven that this part is crucial for regulating cellular processes. Extracellular factors profoundly affect cell behaviour, stimulating the activation of the regulatory elements. We believe that so called regulatory elements should be treated with the same attention as coding regions. 

 

Having that in mind, at Genegoggle, we have created Genegoggle Epigenetic Viewer (GEV). The tool allows for visualization and inspects the shape of the DNA as it is packaged in the cell nucleus. The tool is sort of an epigenetic microscope enabling the 3D DNA structure analysis, identifying the epigenetic modifications, comparing various types of cells, measuring the distances between genomic regions of interest in the 3D space, and, more generally, understanding the current state of the chromatin. GEV is a prelude to novel epigenetics-based applications such as gene editing targets identifications, DNA damage inspection, for example, for space travelling purposes, selective drug activation and many others.