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ValIdated Systematic IntegratiON of hematopoietic epigenomes

VISION Mission Statement

VISION is an international project from multiple labs that aims to provide a ValIdated Systematic IntegratiON of epigenomic data in mouse and human hematopoiesis.

Technological advances enabling the production of large numbers of rich, genome-wide, sequence-based datasets have transformed biology. However, the volume of data is overwhelming for most investigators. We have formed an interdisciplinary, collaborative team of investigators to address the problem of how to effectively utilize the enormous amount of epigenetic data both for basic research and precision medicine.

At this point, acquisition of data is no longer the major barrier to understanding mechanisms of gene regulation during normal and pathological tissue development. The chief challenges are how to: (i) integrate epigenetic data in terms that are accessible and understandable to a broad community of researchers, (ii) build validated quantitative models explaining how the dynamics of gene expression relates to epigenetic features, and (iii) translate information effectively from mouse models to potential applications in human health.

The products (deliverables) from this project will be designed provide the user community with reliable predictions of regulatory regions in the genomes of many lineages of blood cells, backed by extensive experimental validation using genome editing methodologies. Furthermore, these predicted regulatory regions will be incorporated into quantitative models for gene regulation, applicable genome-wide and tested in a set of reference loci. We are also building resources to facilitate translations of results of studies between human and mouse based on genomic and epigenomic conservation.

This website is a prototype to help illustrate what we are striving to achieve with VISION. The project began in summer of 2016, and our VISION is definitely a work in progress.

July 15, 2016