epigenetics

Likely cause of increasingly common birth defect

An alarming increase in the occurrence of the most common genital malformation in male babies, hypospadias, is likely due to environmental factors, such as toxicant exposure, which alter epigenetic programming in a forming penis.  That’s according to a new study in Scientific Reports that identified a direct link between hypospadias tissue samples and the presence of epigenetic […]

Closeup of a mother with her baby.

Biomarkers could help diagnose male infertility

It can take a year or longer of trial and error for a doctor to determine if a man is infertile but new research by Michael Skinner, a WSU reproductive biologist, could change that. Skinner and an international team of collaborators discovered infertile men have identifiable patterns of epigenetic molecules or biomarkers attached to their […]

Sperm changes documented years after chemotherapy

A Washington State University researcher has documented epigenetic changes in the sperm of men who underwent chemotherapy in their teens. The changes can influence how genes are turned on an off, potentially affecting the health of tissues in subsequent generations, said Michael Skinner, a professor in the WSU School of Biological Sciences and Center for […]

Dioxin causes disease, reproductive problems across generations

By Eric Sorensen, WSU science writer Since the 1960s, when the defoliant Agent Orange was widely used in Vietnam, military, industry, and environmental groups have debated the toxicity of one of its ingredients, the chemical dioxin, and how it should be regulated. But even if all the dioxin were eliminated from the planet, Washington State […]