UAB College of Arts and Sciences Professor Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O., has edited the newly released Handbook of Epigenetics: The New Molecular and Medical Genetics. Tollefsbol says the publication is the first to offer a fully comprehensive analysis of epigenetics, the study of mechanisms that modify but do not change the sequence of DNA. Epigenetic changes at the cellular level have the ability to change the behavior of human genes, which can lead to diseases like Alzheimer's and forms of cancer.
Tollefsbol's previously edited book, Epigenetics of Aging, was reviewed by the journal Nature. His research lab is a part of the UAB Department of Biology.