B2295 - Identification of epigenetic and genetic associations with leukocyte telomere length - 11/09/2014
Aims:
The overall goal of our planned project is to identify and characterise DNA methylation changes associated with telomere shortening, a biomarker for healthy ageing, and interrogate the potential causal role of these epigenetic variants in disease risk. Within this, the specific Aims for the proposal to work with samples and data from the ARIES collection of ALSPAC participants are as follows:
i) To carry out a pilot investigation of a subset of ARIES DNA samples, to assess the suitability of the MM-qPCR method for measuring mean relative leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in this cohort.
ii) To identify novel epigenetic variants (DNA methylation of CpG sites) associated with LTL.
iii) To identify genetic variants that influence methylation levels at CpG sites associated with LTL