Courses Details
NUTR590: Epigenetics and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
- Graduate level
- Online MPH only
- This is a first year course for Online students
- Spring-Summer term(s) for online MPH students;
- 2 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
- Instructor(s): Dana Dolinoy, Erica Jansen, (Online MPH);
- Prerequisites: None
- Advisory Prerequisites: Introduction to Epidemiology, college-level biology, genetics or biochemistry
- Description: In the first part of the course, we will consider how physical growth and maturation from conception through adolescence predict current and later health risk (i.e. the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, or DOHaD). In the second part of the course, we will learn about one of the potential mechanisms underlying the DOHaD hypothesis, which is that early life experiences affect our epigenome - the collection of molecular markers that control our genes' expression. The last portion of the course will culminate in a project that ties part 1 and 2 together. Specifically, you will design an ideal study that incorporates your acquired knowledge on growth assessment and epigenetic methods.
- Learning Objectives: 1- Use the DOHaD framework to explain how early environments can predict later disease 2- Apply life stage-specific tools to assess growth and development 3- Use nutritional epidemiology perspectives to interpret DOHaD findings 4- Design studies to analyze the role of nutrition in altering growth and development during sensitive periods 5- Define key epigenetic mechanisms and biological phenomena 6- Examine how dietary and environmental factors influence epigenetic mechanisms to affect health status 7 Critically assess epigenetic research in the primary literature 8 Explain the complexity of incorporating epigenetics into population health 9 Articulate potential ethical, policy, and risk assessment ramifications
| Department | Program | Degree | Competency | Specific course(s) that allow assessment | Population and Health Sciences | MPH | Estimate population health indicators from high quality data resources from diverse sources | PUBHLTH515, EPID643, NUTR590, BIOSTAT592, BIOSTAT501 |
|---|