Collaboration/cooperation with external institutions The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC)

The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) coordinates an international collaborative effort for the production of reference maps of epigenomes for key cellular states relevant to health and disease. As of 2016, Canada, the EU, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, the USA, and Japan have officially joined as IHEC members.

IHEC pursues a long-term objective to understand the extent to which the epigenome has shaped human populations over generations and in response to the environment and currently has two goals. One important primary goal is to decipher at least 1000 human epigenomes of normal cells related to diseases, create high-resolution human epigenome maps, publish data on the portal site, and standardize the data analysis methods and the format provided. The second is to catalyze the development of new and robust technologies that will facilitate the characterization and functional analysis of the epigenome in health and diseases, thereby substantially driving down the costs of epigenome mapping.

The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) has been participating in IHEC activities since April 2015 by supporting three research projects in the “Development of Fundamental Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy Based upon Epigenome Analysis" research area. This AMED-CREST research area supervised Prof. Masayuki Yamamoto and Prof. Toshikazu Ushijima, has been funded by AMED including those 3 research project team, Kanai's, Shirahige's, and Sasaki's Team, specialized in IHEC research and activities.

The members of IHEC take turns holding an Annual Meeting. November 16-18, 2015 an annual meeting was held in Tokyo, JAPAN. The three-day meeting offered various sessions including country updates, workgroup meetings, and reports as well as the IHEC Science Day, which provided high-level talks by renowned scientists on their latest findings in epigenomics. With nearly 250 participants on this dedicated Day of Science, this year's meeting marked the highest attendance yet in the series of IHEC conferences.
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Link to the website

Last updated 04/11/17