Victoria Lunyak, PhD., Associate Professor

Epigenetics and Cell Fate Determination

Victoria Lunyak, PhD is one of the newest investigators working at the Buck Institute for Age Research. She is researching the role of stem cells in aging and age related diseases. Dr. Lunyak works in a branch of genetics known as epigenetics, which explores how the genetic blueprint carried by DNA is read differently in different cells of the human body. Central to this work is the understanding that environmental factors such as nutrition affect gene expression by impacting in the epigenome of the cells. These switched-on phenotypic traits may then be passed from a parent cell to its descendants. Until the human genome was mapped in 2003, scientists believed that DNA alone carried all of the genetic information necessary for development. The new understanding rests on an incomplete model known as the epigenome: the combination of genetic information, gene expression, DNA methylation and histone modifications.

Dr. Lunyak, with collaborators at Georgia Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley and Texas A&M, is working to develop an “epigenome of aging.” The   epigenetic maps  will allow researchers to establish biomarkers based on epigenetic changes. Using those biomarkers, pharmaceutical companies could potentially develop drugs to treat Alzheimer, Parkinson, cancer  and other age-related diseases.

Dr. Lunyak’s ground-breaking research is supported by an Applied Biosystems parallel gene sequencer called SOLiD (Sequencing by Oligonucleotide Ligation and Detection). The instrument’s computational and bioinformatics base coupled with the resources of the Buck Institute makes a significant step forward in California’s plan to participate in establishing a Human Stem Cell Epigenome Project Initiative.