Epigenetics: An Introduction – Dr Nessa Carey 9,704 viewsMar 15, 2021

Epigenetics: An Introduction – Dr Nessa Carey 9,704 viewsMar 15, 2021 The Weekend University 56K subscribers Get early access to our latest psychology lectures: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 Ever wondered why identical twins become less alike as they age, even developing different diseases? Why are the cells of your skin so different from the cells of your kidneys, even though they contain exactly the same DNA? The answer lies in epigenetics, an extra layer of information on top of genes, that controls how the genetic script gets used. It’s the link between nature and nurture and it’s important in a huge range of biological processes. It explains why tortoiseshell cats are almost always female, and why global warming is leading to catastrophic skewing of the sex ratios in turtle populations. Drug companies are investing billions of dollars in creating new therapies for cancer, using their knowledge of how epigenetic problems can drive this disease. Most weirdly of all, the epigenetic system can be a means by which responses to the environment get passed down through generations, without any change in DNA. It’s a wonderful, strange, fascinating and sometimes controversial science, and it affects us all. --- Dr Nessa Carey is a biologist working in the field of molecular biology and biotechnology. She is International Director of the technology transfer organisation PraxisUnico and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. With expertise in the field of epigenetics and in technology transfer, she promotes the movement of scientists between academia and industry, lecturing often to school students and early career scientists. Dr Carey writes books and articles for a scientifically interested general audience, and contributes to the Huffington Post. She is the author of The Epigenetics Revolution and Junk DNA: A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome which explore advances in the field of epigenetics and their implications for medicine. You can find out more about her work at www.nessacarey.co.uk. --- Links: - Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 - Check out our next event: http://theweekenduniversity.com/events/ - Dr Carey’s website: http://www.nessacarey.co.uk/ - Dr Carey’s books: https://amzn.to/3mAdwcm 21 Comments rongmaw lin Add a comment... Ara Ara 5 months ago Dr Nessa is an amazing speaker, I love this thank you for making it public on YouTube such a great resource! 3 GIGI Joon GIGI Joon 3 months ago (edited) Wow! I enjoyed this so much! I was actually able to comprehend it without any background in the field. Thank you! 1 Locrian08 Locrian08 1 year ago I'd like to see more human studies on commonly used HDAC inhibitors (eg Valproate) for altering abilities that are locked in during early childhood. Doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2013.00102 Histone-deacetylase inhibitor Valproic Acid may reopen the critical learning period for acquiring perfect pitch (an ability that is locked in at an early age). For victims of early childhood trauma, we could picture a treatment like this that allowed for re-nurturing to modulate over active stress responses. 1 Bill Thompson Bill Thompson 2 months ago Charmingly utterly compelling 💕 prior agility explained in a sophisticated and unassuming presentation. Cantavoidtrite Cantavoidtrite 1 year ago This was great! Thanks 3 Alvaro Salvo Alvaro Salvo 9 months ago Excellent! Not many people can structure thoughts and knowledge from the simple to the complex , this amazing scientist does 4 Diane Jessup Diane Jessup 13 hours ago THANK YOU for making this info available to us, the Great Unwashed. Loved it. But...seriously..PLEASE take a shot of Afrin nose spray before next one! ; ) Pana B. Pana B. 9 months ago I was reading a chapter in your first book when I chanced upon this video. This lecture complements the book perfectly. Thank you Dr. Carey. 3 Rudolf Boukal Rudolf Boukal 1 year ago Bravo Dr. Carey! She is brilliant, humble, informed, balanced, and a wonderful teacher! Thank you for posting this. She is simply delightful! 5 lindosland lindosland 2 months ago I find a lack of logic in Carey's thinking - I was sceptical when I read her books. She says that we needed something more than DNA to explain how different cell types form. We didn't. In saying this she is ignoring all prior knowledge of 'genetic cascades', whereby a gene generates a product that turns on another gene, and may even turn itself off. These products, 'transcription factors' are proteins that persist in the cell, and are passed on when the cell divides. Much had been written about gene cascades before epigenetics arrived - see for example, 'The Control of Gene Expression In Animal Development' by J B Gurdon of Cambridge University. Here we have quite an adequate mechanism to explain cell types and more. Then Carey talks of psychological conditions as being affected by epigenetics, but ignores the brain. We know already that the brain has long-term memory, and that the primitive emotional areas of the brain record trauma. Is their memory determined by epigenetics? I think not, we already have mechanisms for it from neuroscience in terms of proteins and synapses. We are left with the real question; what IS epigenetics for? I don't think Carey has the answer. I have my own hypotheses and think we should consider a Lamarckian role, though it seems that epigenetic markers are overwhelmingly (but perhaps not entirely) erased in gamete formation. The whole business of 'turning genes on and off' is talked of too glibly. Bacteria turn on genes for a particular food source when it appears in their surrounding - because it is sensed and enables gene transcription at the promoter. No other mechanism needed! Regulation of gene products in general needs precision and generally involves feedback mechanisms - it is not clear that epigenetics has a role here; the RNA world clearly does have a role, most obviously in controlling the degrading rate of mRNA.. 1 Simon Masters Simon Masters 5 months ago Bravo KipIngram KipIngram 4 months ago (edited) Ack. I just watched Dr. Carey's RI presentation from 2015 - this one's 2021, and I was hoping for new material. But then it's kicking off with exactly those same two quotes. I'm going to plow along, but I hope it's not just the same stuff re-iterated. Later: Yeah, looks like exactly the same slide deck. :-( :-( :-( 1 TACTlacker TACTlacker 1 year ago Gold 1 Caoimhín P Connell Caoimhín P Connell 10 months ago (edited) With respect, this video rates four genes out of a possible of ten. Undoubtedly, Dr. Nessa is technically very competent. She knows the meanings to the words, she knows the subject matter reasonably well, she knows how all the moving parts fit together and she knows how to present a narrative. So, why only 4 out of 10 for the video? Answer: Lack of insight. No “spark.” Is that important? Watching the video, Dr. Carey strikes me as a very technically competent individual. I would hire her as an expert witness, for example, or to head a regulatory compliance committee, but I would not hire her as an instructor or a research assistant. She describes herself as a “scientist,” but I would judge her as a “technologist.” Her presentation demonstrates good knowledge, but lack of understanding. An analogy would be that of an automotive engineer: a chap who can recite the entire history of the automobile, and can give you ASE specifications for oil from memory and knows the names of all the parts in a vehicle and how they connect – but who otherwise can’t change a puncture on his own car, doesn’t know who Roberto Guerrero is or who died on February 18, 2001, during the Daytona 500, never experienced “push” in a corner at 120 mph and can’t even work on his wife’s car. The famous physicist Stanley Jaki warned of dogmatic science as “stillbirth science” as did his predecessor Pierre Duhem who cautioned “The history of science alone can keep the physicist from the mad ambitions of dogmatism as well as the despair of pyrrhonian scepticism.” Dogmatic “scientists” like Dr. Carey begin with an a priori dogma into which all evidence SHALL fit like Procrustean’s Bed, and if the evidence doesn’t fit, then demmit, lop off the bits that are too big, and stretch the bits that are too small and MAKE it fit the desired outcome. So it is with Dr. Carey – listen closely to what she says. Real scientists, by contrast have the courage to look at the evidence and allow the evidence to lead the conclusions – however terrible and uncomfortable the path. Like the ironic inaugural Huxley speech in Sept. 1876, where Huxley implored his audiance to “follow the evidence” (Huxley himself was terrified of evidence, and eschewed allowing evidence to lead to conclusions unless those conclusions fit into his own Procrustean Bed). To her credit, Dr. Carey identifies herself as a “Materialist” and thereby honestly informs her audience of her self-imposed constraints on what she thinks is “science” – But by those constraints, she limits her ability to possess “insight” and “spark;” the intangible marks of real scientists. Her video (and presumably her book) therefore is presented exclusively within the limited confines of those constraints. There is no point in standing on the shoulders of giants if you fear the sight of the new horizon- or worse, refuse to accept that there is a new horizon to be seen. I would recommend Dr. Carey’s video if one is only interested in knowing the meanings of technical terms and how those terms relate to each other. If one wants to ask the “But how can this be?” question – then look elsewhere, because this video is not for you. With respect and charity, and no offense intended to Dr. Carey, who is probably a very nice person. 5