A Simon Fraser University physicist has helped discover that
understanding how a chemical mark on our DNA affects gene expression could be
as useful to scientists as fingerprints are to police at a crime scene.
In a new study, Emberly and his colleagues cite proof that
variable methylation, a chemical mark on our DNA, is predictive of age, gender,
stress, cancer and early-life socioeconomic status within a population. The
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has just published the
study online.