Germline Exposures
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Are we damaging the code for future generations?

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Toxicants such as anesthesia, drugs and smoking can affect the molecular coherence of human germline, that is, the genetic and epigenetic programming contained within our egg and sperm, causing pathology in offspring. We aim to educate the public, researchers, and regulators about this under-appreciated source of risk. Latest:

• 2023 RFP Deadline March 31, 2023: Germline Exposures Grants

• Don't forget the gametes: When neurodevelopmental pathogenesis starts in the sperm and egg.  [Neuroepigenetics series, July 2022]


• Beyond Genes: Germline Disruption in the Etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders [Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, October 2021]

• Exploring the role of nongenetic inheritance in the etiology of human disease [Biology of Reproduction, August 2021]

• How family histories can inform research about germ cell exposures: the example of autism [Biology of Reproduction, May 2021]

• 2021 Grant Programs

• Heritable Impacts of General Anesthesia: An Urgent Matter for Genetic Toxicology and Autism Research [Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, September 2020]     PDF   Video

• General Anesthesia, Germ Cells and the Missing Heritability of Autism: An Urgent Need for Research [Environmental Epigenetics, July 2020]

• BEYOND GENES: The Online Conference on Non-genetic Inheritance in Human Disease, 2020 [BeyondGenes.org]


• NIEHS Environmental Factor Newsletter [November 2019 article]

• Escher Fund featured on Schwab Charitable [December 2019 web and video]

• Heritable Impacts of Toxicant Exposures: A Gap in Research and Regulation [NIEHS, September 2019, video]

• Germ Cell Exposure to Toxicants: A Gap in Research and Regulation [Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, September 2019, video]


• Heritable Hazards of General Anesthesia [Epigenetic Inheritance Symposium, Zurich August 2019, video]

• Germ Cell Toxicant Exposure: A Gap in Research and Regulation [Brazil Mutagenesis Conference, June 2019, video]


• 
NIH research program on heritable (germline) impacts of general anesthesia, a response to Dr. Bianchi’s November 27, 2018 letter [June 2019 letter]

• Pregnancy Drugs, Fetal Germline Epigenome, and Risks for Next-Generation Patholo
gy: A Call to Action. By Jill Escher and Suzanne Robotti [2019 Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis journal]

• Bugs in the Program: why non-genetic inheritance should be a priority in autism research. By Jill Escher [May 2018 Environmental Epigenetics journal]

• "Quasi-Genetics" at the Roots of Autism? By LaDonna Ford, MD and Jill Escher
[2019 blogpost]

• 150+ studies demonstrating nongenetic inheritance in mammals and humans

• Nomination of germ cell impacts of general anesthetic gases to National Toxicology Program [November 2018]


• Nomination for OHAT scoping review of human and mammal evidence for adverse heritable impacts of direct germ cell exposure to drugs and chemicals [December 2018]
See more than 200 studies finding human and mammalian intergenerational effects of exposures
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Archived:
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Webinar 1: "Early Germline Events in the Heritable Etiology of ASDs"

Featuring Amander Clark, PhD, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, UCLA: "Molecular dynamics and epigenomic vulnerabilities of the early germline in humans"
Ryan Yuen, PhD, Center for Applied Genomics, Hospital for SickKids: "Overview of heterogenous de novo genomic alterations in ASD subjects"
Commentary by Patrick Allard, PhD, Janine LaSalle, PhD, Lisa Chadwick, PhD, and Stephan Sanders, PhD


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Webinar 2: "Environmental Exposures and the Germline: Investigating Causes of Epigenomic and Genomic Errors"

Featuring Dana Dolinoy, PhD, University of Michigan: "Heritable epigenetic effects of germline exposure to toxicants"
Carole Yauk, PhD, Health Canada: "Analysis of chemical exposures and life stage factors that contribute to genetic disease"

Commentary by Cathrine Hoyo, PhD, and Lisa Chadwick, PhD



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Webinar 3: "Special Genes, Special Functions: All About Genomic Imprinting, and Implications for Autism Research"
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Featuring Christopher Gregg, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Human Genetics, University of Utah

Overview: Maternally and paternally inherited chromosomes are not functionally equivalent due to heritable epigenetic marks, called genomic imprints. The Gregg Lab has uncovered an array of complex parental effects indicating distinct maternal and paternal gene expression programs in the brain.


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Webinar 4: "The potential role of epigenetics in sex differences in autism"
Tracy Bale, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience in Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
Introduction by: Donna Werling, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF

 


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Webinar 5: "Exploiting genetics to identify environmental risks for autism"
Mark Zylka, PhD
Jeffrey Houpt Distinguished Investigator
Director, UNC Neuroscience Center
Professor, Cell Biology & Physiology
With comment by Valerie Hu, PhD, George Washington University.



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Webinar 6: Investigating gene x environment interactions in "single gene autisms"
Janine LaSalle, PhD
Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis Genome Center, UC Davis MIND Institute
Commentary by Keith Dunaway, PhD




Latest Expert Q&As

  • Denis Noble, CBE FRS FRCP FMedSci, Oxford University: "DNA is not the sole transmitter of inheritance."
  • Toshi Shioda, MD, PhD, Harvard University: A new way to test for germline toxicity, PGC-LCs
  • Piroska Szabó, PhD, Van Andel Institute: Chemicals can exert direct epigenetic effects on exposed fetal germ cells
  • Miklos Toth, PhD, Cornell Medical Center: Non-genetic but germ cell-based transmission of traits
  • June Reinisch, PhD, Prenatal Development Project: The hidden history of pregnancy drugs (Prenatal Exposures Oral History Project)
  • Mark Klebanoff, MD, MPH, University of Ohio: Post-war obstetrics (Prenatal Exposures Oral History Project)
  • Lucas Argueso, PhD, Colorado State University: What causes germline de novo copy number variations?
  • Patrick Allard, PhD, UCLA: What glowing worms teach us about germline toxicology
  • Catherine Dulac, PhD, Harvard University: New discoveries in genomic imprinting

Latest from the Blog
Commentary: Germline mutagenesis: The forgotten realm of public health research

Grandmother's smoking in pregnancy linked to autism in grandchildren

To understand autism, talk to the grandmothers
 
"Time Bomb" Hypothesis of Autism Featured on Autism Speaks Blog

Is Grandmaternal Smoking the Primary Force Behind the Autism Surge?

Is the Autism Surge a "Genetic Emergency" Foreseen by Geneticists in the 1960s?
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NeuroTribes: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Autism
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NeuroTribes is a phase—some complacency-manifesto-wreckage on the road toward progress in the understanding of this explosion of abnormal neurodevelopment we call autism."

Escher Fund for Autism files FDA petition to withdraw approval for pregnancy drug

Learn About Grants
The Escher Fund for Autism has spearheaded multiple research projects to examine disruptive germline programming effects of drug, smoking, and chemical exposures.

Past grantees include:
University of Bristol • Child Health and Development Survey • University of Copenhagen • UCSF • Harvard University • UCSD • Rockefeller University • Brown University • UCLA • Autism Speaks • Linkoping University • University of Chicago • Stanford University • Florida State University • North Carolina State University • Colorado State University • Columbia University • Keystone Symposia • Gordon Research Conferences • International Society for Autism Research • Environmental Mutagenesis & Genomics Society • Society of Toxicology • and more

Join our Email List
Please join our mailing list to learn the latest about our grants and research activities.
An Autism Mother's Story
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Jill Escher
on a serendipitous discovery of  medical records and the resulting intergenerational hypothesis.
• In Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis: 
Pregnancy drugs, fetal germline epigenome, and risks for next‐generation pathology: A call to action
• In Environmental Epigenetics: Bugs in the Program : 
can pregnancy drugs and smoking disturb molecular reprogramming of the fetal germline, increasing heritable risk for autism and neurodevelopmental disorders?

Selected presentations and articles

Autism Family Stories
A Thalidomide Daughter Asks, Where's the Long-Term Follow-Up?

My British Parents Smoked Nonstop Whilst I (and My Germ Cells) Were Developing in the Womb—Could this Be What Caused My Son's Autism?

A Father Prenatally Exposed to Synthetic Hormones, a Son with Severe Mental Illness and Autism: Is Germline Epimutation at Work?

A mother of three children with autism speaks out about her own prenatal drug exposures

Germline Exposures in the News
Germline exposures are now a red-hot topic in science and the media. Check out some of the top stories from the popular press.
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Expert Interviews: Learn About Germline, Exposures, and Epigenetics

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Find all our expert Q&As here.

Ascertaining Germline Risks of Chemical Exposures with Francesco Marchetti, PhD, and Carole Yauk, PhD, Health Canada
Gene-Environment Interaction in the Etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder
with Alycia Halladay, PhD, formerly of Autism Speaks
Epigenetics: Evolutionary Theory in Transition
with Professor Eva Jablonka, Tel Aviv University
Prenatal Stressors and Epigenetics in the Development of Behavioral Disorders
with Tracy Bale, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Epigenetic Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
with Epigeneticist Ben Laufer, Western University

The Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
with Carol Kwiatkowski, PhD, the Endocrine Disruption Exchange
Germline Effects of In Utero Exposure to Nicotine
with Pradeep Bhide, PhD, University of South Florida
How Epigenetics Influences the Risk of Disease
with Susan Murphy, PhD, Duke University
The Role of Epigenetics in Autism Spectrum Disorders
with Janine LaSalle, PhD, UC Davis
What Glowing Worms Teach Us About Germ Cell Toxicity
with Patrick Allard, PhD, UCLA

How Exposures Can Modify the Epigenome
with Dana Dolinoy, PhD, University of Michigan

Effects of Exposures on Development of Oocytes
with Patricia Hunt, PhD, Washington State University

Epigenetics of Human Germline Development
with Amander Clark, PhD, UCLA

How Environmental Factors Change Epigenetics of Germline
with Mirella Meyer-Fica, PhD, University of Utah

Multigenerational Effects of Endocrine-Disrupting Molecules
with Emilie Rissman, PhD, North Carolina State University


Imprinting, Gene Regulation, and Early Development
with Randy Jirtle, PhD, GeneImprint.org

Developmental Origins of Disease
with Jerry Heindel, PhD, NIEHS

Fetal Origins of Disease and the Enduring Impacts of Early-Life Exposures with Carmen Marsit, PhD, Dartmouth Medical School
Dimensions in Autism Genetics
with Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, Columbia University

Environmental Exposures and Our Dynamic Epigenome
with Linda Birnbaum, PhD, NIEHS


Persistent Epigenetic Consequences of Critical-Window Exposures
with Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna, PhD, Linkoping University

New Discoveries in Genomic Imprinting
with Catherine Dulac, PhD, Harvard University


Connecting Exposures to Epigenetic Effects
with Cheryl Walker, PhD, Texas A&M University

Epigenetic Susceptibility: A Source of Environmental Risk
with Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, Harvard University

Germline Effects of Maternal Smoking with Eileen McLaughlin, PhD, University of Newcastle

Genomic Imprinting: Key for Neurodevelopment
with Christopher Gregg, PhD, University of Utah



A Revolution in Germline Toxicology: Dr. Toshi Shioda’s “PGC-LCs”
with Toshi Shioda, PhD, Harvard University
Assisted Fertility and Epigenetic Disruption
with Marisa Bartolomei, PhD, University of Pennsylvania


Non-DNA Mediated Transmission of Behavior Across Generations
with Miklos Toth, MD, Cornell Medical Center

Adverse Multigenerational Effects of Maternal Smoking
with Virender Rehan, MD, UCLA


The Hidden History of Pregnancy Drugs with June Reinisch, PhD, Prenatal Development Project
The Developing Genome
with David Moore, PhD, Pitzer College




Post-war Obstetric Practice with Mark Klebanoff, MD, MPH, University of Ohio
What Causes Genetic Copy Number Variations?
with Lucas Argueso, PhD,
Colorado State University



Chemicals Can Exert Direct Epigenetic Effects on Exposed Fetal Germ Cells with Piroska Szabó, PhD, Van Andel Institute

"DNA is not the sole transmitter of inheritance" with Denis Noble, CBE FRS FRCP FMedSci, Oxford University
This site is sponsored by:
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The Escher Fund for Autism and the Escher Family Fund are donor-advised funds, the former at Schwab Charitable, the latter at Silicon Valley Community Foundation.



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  • Home
  • Expert Q&A
    • Eva Jablonka Q&A
    • Amander Clark Q&A
    • Mirella Meyer-Ficca Q&A
    • Janine LaSalle Q&A
    • Dana Dolinoy Q&A
    • Ben Laufer Q&A
    • Tracy Bale Q&A
    • Susan Murphy Q&A
    • Alycia Halladay Q&A
    • Wendy Chung Q&A
    • Pradeep Bhide Q&A
    • Pat Hunt Q&A
    • Yauk and Marchetti Q&A
    • Emilie Rissman Q&A
    • Carol Kwiatkowski Q&A
    • Linda Birnbaum Q&A
    • Virender Rehan Q&A
    • Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna Q&A
    • Randy Jirtle Q&A
    • Jerry Heindel Q&A
    • Cheryl Walker Q&A
    • Eileen McLaughlin Q&A
    • Carmen Marsit Q&A
    • Marisa Bartolomei Q&A
    • Christopher Gregg Q&A
    • Andrea Baccarelli Q&A
    • David Moore Q&A
    • Patrick Allard Q&A
    • Catherine Dulac Q&A
    • Lucas Argueso Q&A
    • Toshi Shioda Q&A
    • Miklos Toth Q&A
    • Piroska Szabo Q&A
    • Reinisch Q&A
    • Klebanoff Q&A
    • Denis Noble Q&A
  • Germline in the News
  • Science
    • Studies of Interest
    • Escher Prize
    • Grants
    • Smoking Workshop
    • Webinar Series
    • Parent Survey
  • Presentations
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Join our Email List
    • Jill Escher Q&A
  • Blog