Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf: Epigenetics may hold key to arsenic’s role in cancer.
Our Department wishes to congratulate Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf for being featured in an article from NIEHS!
Fondufe-Mittendorf was recognized in the article for her work in epigenetics, which is the study of mechanisms in cancer development. More specifically, epigenetics describes the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence.
In an NIEHS Keystone Science Lecture Seminar Series, Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf gave a talk about her research and the potential it has to help us understand possible causes of cancer development. Her lab studies change in the epigenome when influenced by environmental factors like arsenic within a coal mining community. Arsenic can replace zinc in an important process of regulatory proteins. If and when this happens, it can lead to abnormal chromatin looping. Scientists studying epigenetics believe that this may be involved with the development of cancer.
This study affects Eastern Kentucky in particular as it is a coal mining area. Fondufe-Mittendorf was quoted to have said, “I see a great need in the Appalachian region, because residents are exposed to contaminants that seep into drinking water due to coal mining activities.” We are extremely proud of her research and are excited to see the good it will do.
To learn more about epigenetics, and to read more about Yvonne Fodufe-Mittendorf’s research, please read the full NIEHS article here:
