Medical Museum Science Cafe: Discover the Ghost in Your Genes

Have you heard the one about plastics in our reusable water bottles causing cancer? Or the one about what your grandparents did or didn't eat that might cause your children to be diabetic? Do you worry that what you put into your body today will affect your grandchildren’s health? Environmental exposure and genetic abnormalities are getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. Researchers are learning that everyday exposure to chemicals in our homes and workplaces, as well as stress, may be causing long-term harm to our health. This new research aims to protect our epigenome: the dynamic part of our genetic code that can be altered by environmental conditions. Join Susan Taymans, Ph.D., from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to learn about changes in gene expression as a result of environmental factors. Taymans will describe actual cases of “ghosts”— where environmental effects are transmitted several generations along with no apparent changes to the genetic code. Presented by the National Museum of Health and Medicine.