Project

The German Epigenome Program DEEP (Deutsches Epigenom Programm) (2012-2017) is a full partner of the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC; http://www.ihec-epigenomes.org). IHEC is a worldwide association of funders and scientists to promote the standardized mapping of comprehensive epigenomes of the cell types of the human body.

Over the next five years DEEP will contribute 70 epigenomes to the IHEC goal to map 1000 epigenomes until 2020. DEEP will comply to IHEC standards and will exclusively use NGS-platforms for data generation (Bisulfite-Seq, ChIP-Seq, DNAseI-Seq, RNA-Seq). DEEP focusses on cells relevant for chronic metabolic and inflammatory diseases such as hepatocytes, adipocytes, synovial fibroblasts, t-memory/effector cells, macrophages/monocytes and gut epithelium.

The major objectives of DEEP are to produce publically available comparable reference epigenomes of normal and diseased states and to develop novel interdisciplinary approaches and tools for a systematic interpretation of epigenomic data. The goal of the program is to obtain a deeper understanding of epigenetic contributions to complex diseases. Towards this goal DEEP will comprise a coordinated network of transdisciplinary partnerships between data producers (NGS sequencing units), data analysers (Bioinformatic units) and biomedical units (functional disease model projects).