Developing Novel Peptide Arrays for Epigenetic Research

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It has been increasingly appreciated that perturbations in epigenetic processes are associated with diverse human diseases such as cancer and immunodeficiency disorders. To date, more than 100 histone protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs) have been described. However, characterization of the enzymes that catalyze the modifications and the proteins that recognize and transduce specific PTMs to biological outcomes remains largely underdeveloped. Given the association of aberrant PTMs with human disease, there is a compelling need to develop innovative tools to characterize proteins involved in epigenetic regulation. We propose to develop a new technology utilizing protein arrays for high-throughput coverage of thehuman epigenome. The overall goals are to establish methods for protein array technology to be applied for epigenetic research, and validate protein array technology as a new tool in the discovery of how chromatin modification events regulate epigenet