As the world of research in the academy is transformed by the internet our faculty and students are anxious to engage in the digital environment as new patterns of communication emerge and develop.
The Center for Digital Scholarship on Leddy Library’s 4th floor is a hub for campus activities in digital publishing, student research engagement, and data-rich and visually-mediated research. We were thrilled to provide support for the first book appearing here, Epigenetics and Society. Under the direction of Dr. Michael Crawford, This book arose as a collaboration among students of disciplines as diverse as biological sciences, literature, political science, psychology, and computer science.
Peer Review: Arrangement for independent peer review for titles appearing in the Emerging Scholars Press are made at the discretion of the faculty advisor for each manuscript.
License Information: All digital copies are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
For more information please visit the Centre for Digital Scholarship.
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Epigenetics in Society
Epigenetics Study Group, Lina Chaker, Kendall Diemer, Florida Doci, Curtis Foreman, Natalie Gosselin, Jessica Hebert, Aaron Hegazi, Roni Hetzel, Marisa Market, Jake Pfaff, Kaela Scott, Candace Spencer, Nadia Timperio, Kaylyn Tobin, Clare Venney, Melissa Woghiren, Sandy Zakaria, and Michael J. Crawford
Would you take a potentially life-saving drug if you knew that your children and grandchildren might suffer the side effects?
Would you change your lifestyle if it meant you could reverse disadvantages built into your genes?
Would you be comfortable if corporations could infer intimate details about your life history without asking?
What if that data could improve your quality of life?
Epigenetics - our epigenome - controls how our genes behave without altering their sequence. Just about everything affects it, from nutrition, drugs, and toxins to child rearing, culture, and society. Many diseases, from obesity to addiction to cancer, can be linked to epigenetic modifications. Furthermore, throughout development and life, from conception to death, the exposures you have will not only affect your own epigenome, but potentially also your child’s, and your grandchild’s. This rapidly expanding field of biological, physiological, sociological, and psychological research could be key to discovering why, and more importantly how, we are the way we are.
Epigenetics has consequences for medicine, pregnancy, childcare, law and how we live on an everyday basis. This book will provide a comprehensive introduction to the mechanisms and real-life consequences of epigenetics, and will arm the reader with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about the future of epigenetics in modern society. This is a call for serious consideration about the effects of epigenetics on society.
Epigenetics has been independently peer-reviewed for accuracy by international experts. It is written by students of diverse disciplines, and intended for students and educated lay people.