Epigenetics: Diagnostic Methods in the Clinical Laboratory
Continuing Education Credits
Objectives
- Define epigenetics and its correlation with gene expression.
- Describe the principles of molecular techniques to measure epigenetic alterations.
- Identify different epigenetic biomarkers.
- Discuss the application of epigenetic biomarkers for clinical diagnostics testing.
Course Outline
- Overview
- Genetic Code
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
- Regulation of Gene Expression
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Polymerase Chain Reaction, continued
- Real-Time PCR
- True or False: The ultimate function of gene expression is to produce a functional product such as protein.
- True or False: In contrast to standard PCR, real-time PCR is quantitative.
- What is Epigenetics?
- Epigenetic Phenomena
- Factors Affecting Epigenetic Regulation
- Epigenetic Regulation Mechanism
- Epigenotype Influence on Phenotype
- Which of the following is not an example of an epigenetic factor?
- Which of the following mechanisms would increase or decrease the expression of a gene?
- Epigenetic Methods
- Tools to Studying Epigenetics
- DNA Methylation
- DNA Methylation
- Methylated CpG
- How Can We Detect Methylation Patterns?
- Bisulfite Modifications
- Bisulfite Modification Disadvantages
- Methylation-Specific PCR (MSP)
- MethyLight
- Methylated DNA Immunoprecipitation (MeDIP)
- Methylated DNA Immunoprecipitation Disadvantages
- MeDIP-Chip
- DNA Methylation Summary
- True or False: When using the bisulfite conversion technique, non-methylated cytosines are converted to guanine.
- Histone Modifications
- Histone Modifications
- Overview of Histone Modifications
- Chromatin Immunoprecipitation-Sequencing (ChIP-SEQ)
- True or False: The ChIP-SEQ technique can be used for identifying genome-wide DNA binding sites for transcription factors and other proteins.
- Non-Coding RNA
- Non-Coding RNA Types
- Microarray
- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)
- Place the steps for Microarray assays in order.
- Epigenetic Biomarkers in the Clinical Laboratory
- Epigenetic Biomarkers
- Epigenetic Biomarker Testing
- Epigenetic Cancer Therapy
- Colorectal Cancer Screening
- Colorectal Cancer Screening, continued
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Thyroid Applications
- Multi-Cancer Early Detection
- Summary
- References
- References
Additional Information
Level of Instruction: Basic to Intermediate
Intended Audience: Medical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, laboratory supervisors, and laboratory managers. This course is also appropriate for MLS and MLT students and pathology residents.
Author Information: Dr. Rodriguez earned a B.S. in Human Biology degree from the University of Puerto Rico, followed by a Master's degree in Microbiology and Immunology, and a Ph.D in Molecular Biology at the Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine of Puerto Rico, where she investigated the effect of antioxidants on Methamphetamine and HIV-1 induced Oxidative Stress in astrocytes cells. Dr. Rodriguez joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology at Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine of Puerto Rico in 2007. Her research, supported by NIH grants, focused on how drugs of abuse altered the brain cells in the presence of HIV-1. In 2012, Dr. Rodriguez was promoted as the Principal Investigator of the Select Agent Program under the Puerto Rico Department of Health Laboratory and the Center of Disease Control Dengue Branch. In 2016, she joined Lakeland Regional Medical Center where she was working as the Educator Coordinator of the Clinical Laboratory. In 2020, she joined the faculty of Biology at Florida Southern College as the Program Director for the Medical Laboratory Science Program. Currently, Dr. Rodriguez is at the University of Central Florida as an Assistant Faculty Medicine and MLS Program Director. Reviewer Information: Dr. Nancy Liu-Sullivan served as a Senior Research Scientist with a specialty in cancer genomics and drug discovery prior to joining the biology faculty at the College of Staten Island (CSI), City University of New York (CUNY), teaching Immunology, Radiation Biology, and General Biology, in addition to mentoring students in cancer research. Dr. Liu-Sullivan is also the author of several MediaLab courses.