Genomic Imprinting News and Research

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Scientists win awards for the discovery of genomic imprinting and tumor’s power grid

For their discovery of genomic imprinting, developmental biologists Davor Solter and Azim Surani will receive the 2026 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, endowed with €120,000, on March 14 at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche.

13 Mar 2026

Researchers uncover dozens of traits driven by maternal versus paternal genes

Researchers developed a high-accuracy method to infer whether genetic variants come from the mother or father without needing parental genomes, analysing 286,666 UK Biobank participants. They uncovered over 30 parent-of-origin effects on traits from growth and metabolism to diabetes, many showing opposite effects depending on parental source.

7 Aug 2025

New DNA mapping technology uncovers genetic clues to rare diseases

Cutting-edge DNA mapping technology identified new genetic information that can help researchers decipher more genetic diseases, a new study found.

25 Apr 2025

Innovative array targets methylation in imprinted genes, simplifies epigenetic research

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed an array that assesses methylation levels of genes located in imprint control regions (ICRs) within the human genome.

25 Jul 2024

New insights into the evolution of genomic imprinting

Some of our genes can be expressed or silenced depending on whether we inherited them from our mother or our father.

6 Mar 2024

VAI scientists uncover mechanism that annotates genetic information passed from fathers to offspring

Van Andel Institute scientists and collaborators have identified a key part of a mechanism that annotates genetic information before it is passed from fathers to their offspring.

7 Sep 2023

New high-throughput genomic array offers an in-depth view of the mouse epigenome

A new high-throughput genomic array offers an unprecedented look into the mouse epigenome, giving researchers an in-depth view into the basis of health and disease in a vital model organism.

13 Jul 2022

Researchers unravel how parent's gene impact the behavior of children

Parenting is not the only way moms and dads impact the behavior of their offspring. Genes matter, too. And although most of our genes are inherited in pairs - one copy from each parent - moms and dads exert their genetic influence in different ways.

8 Mar 2022

Research provides compelling insights into the complex nature of genomic imprinting in mice

Mammalian offspring inherit two versions, or alleles, of each gene with one allele from each biological parent. However, gene expression is tightly regulated and certain genes undergo the phenomenon of "genomic imprinting", which is where only the allele received by the male or the female parent is expressed.

4 Jan 2022

Mother's protein found to be involved in genomic imprinting process

Mothers leave their mark on their children in many ways - and Australian researchers have discovered a protein called SMCHD1 is involved in this 'imprinting' process.

24 Nov 2020

Genetic therapy may help children with Angelman syndrome to overcome seizures

Angelman syndrome is a genetic disease with no cure. Children grow up with severe intellectual disabilities and a range of other problems, arguably the worst of which are epileptic seizures. Now scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have found evidence that genetic therapy may prevent the enhanced seizure susceptibility.

21 Nov 2018

Scientists use haploid stem cells to produce mice with same-sex parents

In a new study, Chinese researchers were able to produce healthy mouse pups with two mothers. The research involved the use of haploid embryonic stem cells.

12 Oct 2018

Father’s genes can affect quality of maternal care received by a newborn

A father’s genes are no longer thought to just provide a blueprint for the growth and development of their offspring.

1 Aug 2018

Mapping the Genes Responsible for Pluripotency

Dr. Atilgan Yilmaz and his team have developed a method by which they can produce haploid human embryonic stem cells from oocytes. They combined this technique with CRISPR-Cas9 to generate an atlas of the genome, containing the functions of over 18,000 genes.

23 May 2018

Change in epigenetic gene regulation by imprinting can trigger preeclampsia, study shows

Preeclampsia is the most dangerous form of hypertension during a pregnancy and can be fatal for both mother and child. Though it is known to originate in the placenta, the root causes remain largely a mystery.

6 Oct 2017

UNIGE researchers develop new technique to improve diagnosis of genetic diseases

When a child is conceived, he or she receives DNA from both parents. The child's own genome thus consists of a maternal and a paternal genome. However, some genes — about 100 out of the 20,000 encoded genes— are exclusively expressed either from the maternal or from the paternal genome, with the other copy of the gene remaining silent.

16 Feb 2017

Potential drug could become first effective treatment option for Prader-Willi syndrome

Duke Health researchers have identified a drug-like small molecule that, in animal experiments, appears to be an effective treatment for a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome.

27 Dec 2016

Research brings scientists closer to understanding mechanisms underlying genomic imprinting process

Research led by Dr. Keiji Tanimoto from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, has brought us closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of genomic imprinting.

25 Nov 2015

Researchers explore how to turn on the activity of paternal gene

Most genes are inherited as two working copies, one from the mother and one from the father. However, in a few instances, a gene is imprinted, which means that one copy is silenced. This is called genomic imprinting. If the active copy is mutated, then disease results, even though the silenced gene copy may be normal.

2 Dec 2014

Scientists report major breakthrough in understanding molecular basis for Prader-Willi syndrome

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have reported a major breakthrough in understanding the molecular basis for Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), perhaps the most studied among the class of diseases that involves defects in parental imprinting.

14 May 2014