BLUEPRINT, a new large-scale research project, will lead to targeted diagnostics, new treatments and preventive measures for specific diseases in individual patients; an approach known as 'personalised medicine'. BLUEPRINT, officially launched on 1 October 2011, is the European cornerstone of an international research cooperation effort – the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC), bringing together organisations and researchers from across the globe. The project upholds the EU's pledge to maximise open access to results of publicly-funded research, as teams from around the world will have a platform to openly share their results.The project has a total budget of close to € 40 million of which € 30 million comes from the EU. 41 leading European universities, research institutes and industry entrepreneurs will participate in what is one of the first so-called high impact research initiatives to receive funding from the EU.

Epigenetics is the study of factors which affect gene expression – whether a gene is switched on or off – and it can tell us why stem cells can develop into any cell in our bodies or why certain diseases or processes of aging occur. Since epigenetic changes are reversible, they could be targets for the development of novel and more individualised medical treatments. Understanding the epigenome therefore shows great potential in advancing the field of personalised medicine.

The BLUEPRINT project aims to further the understanding of how our genes are activated or repressed in both healthy and diseased human cells. It aims to generate at least 100 reference epigenomes and study them to advance and exploit knowledge of the underlying biological processes and mechanisms in health and disease. This aim feeds into the over all objective of IHEC, which is to decipher at least 1000 epigenomes within the next 7-10 years. BLUEPRINT will focus on distinct types of blood cells from healthy individuals and on their malignant leukemic counterparts. Reference epigenomes will be generated by state-of-the-art technologies from highly purified cells for a comprehensive set of epigenetic marks in accordance with quality standards set by IHEC.

More information

BLUEPRINT website